Two guards of honour to take place at funeral of West Cork man who died in farm accident
Joe McCarthy from Drimoleague, who died in a farming accident last Friday.
Two guards of honour will take place at the funeral of a west Cork farmer who died in a farm accident on Friday.
61-year-old Joe McCarthy, of Dromusta, Drimoleague, died on Thursday in an accident on his land while working at slurry.
The father-of-four will be laid to rest after Requiem Mass at 2pm in All Saints Church, Drimoleague.
Members of West Cork IFA and Clann na nGael GAA club will hold guards of honour at the funeral on Monday afternoon.
Chairman of West Cork IFA Donal O’Donovan said Joe was a well-known and respected farmer who was very progressive and had recently built a new milking parlour. Mr O'Donovan said:
He said he knew Mr McCarthy very well and said people were shocked by his untimely death. He added: “He is a huge loss.”
Mr McCarthy is survived by his wife Martina and children Daniel, Eithne, Gráinne, and Brian.
His father, Danny Andrew McCarthy, was one of 16 members of the National Farmers Association who marched from Bantry to Dublin in 1966 under the leadership of Rickard Deasy.
Two investigations into his death have been launched by gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority.
A file will be prepared for the coroner, and an inquest will be held at a later date.
Mr McCarthy is the second person to be killed in a farm accident this year. In January, a woman died in an accident on a farm in Co Laois.
The woman, who was aged in her 60s, suffered significant injuries after being struck by a vehicle on a farm between Portlaoise and Mountrath.
There were nine fatalities on Irish farms last year — down from 20 the previous year. There were 113 agricultural accidents reported last year.
Last month, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said in response to a parliamentary question that farm safety training would be rolled out to about 50,000 farmers as part of the agri-environmental and farm safety training package announced in last October’s budget. Training of advisers to undertake this role is under way.
He added: “Further proposals for the dedicated farm safety budget of €2m for 2022 are in the process of being finalised and will be announced in due course.
"The farm safety webpage will be updated to reflect all farm safety initiatives in due course. We can and are doing more to improve farm safety. Farming is the greatest profession we have but the number of deaths and accidents are too high and we should ensure that whenever a farmer puts on their wellies in the morning, they take them off themselves that evening.”
