New Department service will come to aid of distressed families

A NEW Department of Agriculture service to farm families who have suffered bereavements as a result of sudden tragedies resulting primarily from accidents and suicides, has been welcomed by IFA Farm Family Chair, Maura Canning.

She said that the new service announced last week by Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, would help to ease the administrative burden on families who had been traumatised and devastated by the sudden loss of a family member.

“Anything that can be of help to a family in such a trying time has to be welcomed. It should be of considerable to farm families who have suffered a sudden bereavement,” said Maura Canning.

Minister Coveney outlined that in the new service, a single point of contact within the Quality Customer Services Unit of the Dept. will be established where staff will be available to assist families in responding to their queries and concerns and providing them with comprehensive and expert responses to the issues.

He said that it would be the role of the Quality Customer Services Unit to ensure that queries relating to any area of the Department were managed at this single point of contact and they will maintain contact with families until all issues have been brought to a conclusion.

Families who find themselves in such circumstance may contact the Quality Customer Services Unit at qualityserviceunit@agriculture.gov.ie or lo-call 0761-064445 – the service will commenced on Monday last.

The Quality Services Unit can also be contacted by post at Assistance Liaison Officer, Quality Services Unit, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Grattan House, Grattan Business Centre, Dublin Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois.

“There is a greater burden on families left behind in the aftermath of a sudden loss in dealing with unfamiliar matters such as these,” said Minister Coveney.

Meanwhile Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Mental Health, Colm Keaveney, said that he was extremely worried by the findings of a survey which revealed that half of all farmers have direct experience of suicide.

The study, by the ICMSA, he said found that 53% of farmers had been affected by suicide, with 16% having dealt with it in their immediate or wider family.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.