“I’m taking it an hour at a time, I know it’s going to take a long time to get over it. It was like a knife through my heart.”

On St Patrick’s Day this year, just four months ago, Diane Banville and her two-year-old son, Ryan, found the body of her husband Kevin (33) after an accident on the farm. Their second son, Cillian, was just two weeks old when Kevin passed away.

Kevin was out feeding cattle on the farm in Carrigadaggin, Newbawn, Co Wexford, on the morning of 17 March when he was crushed between a bale of silage and the front loader of the tractor.

The pair were married just 11 months prior to Kevin’s death and plans were being made for the couple’s first wedding anniversary the following month, as well as going to the local St Patrick’s Day parade later in the day.

“It was about half an hour after he was due back in the house, which isn’t that unexpected, but I got a bad feeling when he hadn’t come back, so myself and Ryan went to find him. We landed and saw his body. It was awful,” Diane said.

“Ever since it has been just hectic and manic – it doesn’t feel real,” she added.

At the time, Kevin was the fifth farm death of 2014. There have been another eight deaths since on Irish farms. Diane said the local community have helped her through the difficult time.

“I’m not from a farming background so I don’t know much about it but the neighbours and the people locally have been great. They have been taking care of everything on the farm for me, working and making sure everything is fine,” Diane said.

Diane admitted that Ryan had considerable difficultly in coming to terms with the loss of his father.

“It was difficult for the first 10 days or so. He said he wanted to cry but couldn’t. I told him it was okay to cry … He’s slowly coming to terms with it but it’s not easy. If you fall and cut your knee, you can put a plaster on it but it’s more difficult, this,” she said.

Kevin’s death has opened up a complex financial situation for Diane to deal with. She hopes that legislation can be changed to help her and others like her.

“Kevin was 33 and had no will … so everything has been frozen now. We didn’t have joint accounts. It was a situation where if something needed to be paid for, I’ll pay those bills, Kevin would pay these ones. It was a normal situation like so many others out there.

“But I can’t get access to the farm account. I spoke to the bank afterwards and they were as helpful as they could be but it doesn’t do much either. I can pay into the account but I can’t get money out of it. We were married but it’s technically like we were single because we didn’t have the joint account. I have two kids to look after and bills to pay,” Diane said.

“I hope that legislation can be changed to help me and others in my situation. It’s not fair that people like me would be treated this way. I would urge the Government to take a look at this again.”

Diane admits that the future will be tough, but she knows that she has to remain strong for her children.

“I have two boys and they’re great. I have to be strong for them. I’m showing Ryan videos of Kevin and I’m always encouraging him to talk to him.

“I hear him rowing with Kevin still about eating his dinner – he can still make Ryan eat his dinner all the same.”