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23 Sept 2025

Secondary schools in Donegal urged to participate in new Farm Safety programme

Over the coming week, FRS Training will contact 27 secondary schools in Donegal, inviting them to register their interest in the new Farm Safety Awareness initiative, which will be delivered by November 2025

Secondary schools in Donegal urged to participate in new Farm Safety programme

Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Rosemary McTeague, Regional Sales Manager FRS Training; Michael Healy-Rae TD, Minister of State; Colin Donnery, Group CEO at FRS Co-Op

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23 Sept 2025 6:33 AM

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news@donegallive.ie

Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Rosemary McTeague, Regional Sales Manager FRS Training; Michael Healy-Rae TD, Minister of State; Colin Donnery, Group CEO at FRS Co-Op

Second-level students in Donegal will be offered a chance to take part in a new Farm Safety Awareness programme, which is being rolled out this month by FRS Training.

Over the coming week, FRS Training will contact 27 secondary schools in Donegal, inviting them to register their interest in the new Farm Safety Awareness initiative, which will be delivered by November 2025.

This new Farm Safety Awareness programme will offer face-to-face and webinar-led farm safety training modules covering all major farm safety risks and how to mitigate them, including livestock, machinery, slurry, working at heights, tractors and more.

The programme will be aimed at two groups of students: general secondary level students, and transition year and agricultural science students. The new Farm Safety Awareness initiative will also provide assistance to teachers in educating students about the potential dangers associated with farming and agriculture.

The programme is being funded under the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s dedicated Farm Safety budget, and will seek to engage with second-level students in more than 700 schools across the country.

The latest figures from the Health Safety Authority (HSA) shows that farms remain the most dangerous workplaces in Ireland, with a total of 171 fatal accidents recorded on farms in the past decade.

So far in 2025, there have been 16 farming fatalities, which is more than the total number of fatalities in farming for all of 2024.

Michael Healy-Rae TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Farm Safety, said: “I am delighted to support the Farm Safety Awareness programme being delivered by FRS Training to improve awareness around farm safety among second-level students. Unfortunately, children and young people in farming are particularly at risk of being involved in a farm incident. Since 2015, twelve people under 18 years of age have died on Irish farms and others have been seriously injured.

“I am urging second-level schools and teachers to avail of this opportunity to educate their students about the hazards on farms and how incidents can be prevented. I am confident that this programme will not only contribute to a lifelong positive attitude to farm safety among students, but these students will also increase awareness around farm safety among their farming families.”

Ben Fearn, Head of Sales and Operations at FRS Training, said: “FRS Training is delighted to partner with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to deliver this project and promote farm safety awareness among young people. Our bespoke Farm Safety Awareness Programme for secondary school students has been chosen to help educate second level students across Ireland.

“We at FRS Training have always been committed to supporting safer farms through education and training, and to ultimately reduce the number of farm accidents in Ireland. While striving to reduce the number of farm-related accidents and deaths, it is vital to focus on young people – our future farmers. What they learn at a young age, they can carry that with them for the rest of their long careers, and this will help to build a strong culture of safe farming amongst the next generation.”

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