The submissions from Connie O'Driscoll of the Mizen Rovers Underage GAA club in west Cork at the Seanad hearing on Monday raised awareness of what the GAA can do in rural Ireland to increase awareness of farm safety.

The committee was meeting to hear a number of submissions from interested organisations and individuals with the purpose of creating Rapporteur Report, authored by Senator Martin Conway, which will focus on encouraging best practice in farm safety.

After acknowledging that the number of deaths on Irish farms reached "crisis point" last year, O'Driscoll said the GAA should be playing a key part in resolving this issue, adding that the GAA is a "movement and not just an organisation".

In 2010 the organisation launched a "Care for our Players" campaign that looked at three key areas - health and wellbeing, jobs and enterprise and road safety .

Mizen Rovers proposed to add farm safety to this list of headings by using the respect the GAA has in rural areas to influence young people when it comes to farm safety.

The GAA club said it also believes a dedicated farm safety organisation should be established to deal with the issue and run a high-profile television and radio campaign such as was carried out by the Road Safety Authority when road deaths in Ireland reached record highs at the turn of the millenium.

Responding to the submission from Mizen Rovers, Senator Martin Conway made the suggestion the GAA should consider hiring a full time safety officer to go around parishes promoting farm safety, such is the clout the GAA has in local communities.