The death of a child on a Mayo farm last week has been described as unacceptable by the Health and Safety Authority officer responsible for farm safety.
Mr Aidan McTiernan, a senior inspector with the authority, said yesterday the accident, which is currently under investigation, was a bad start to the year.
"Six children died on farms in the Republic last year, and you have to look back to 1995 to find a higher figure," he said.
"I am very concerned about what has happened."
Mr McTiernan said the death was the second fatal accident on Irish farms so far this year, and there was an urgent need for farmers to draw up a list of where potential accidents could happen.
The child died in an accident involving a tractor at his home.
"Until this safety list is undertaken by every farmer in the country there will be no real progress," Mr McTiernan said.
"Working with the farm organisations and other bodies, every farmer in the country has received information about potential hazards and how to deal with them.
"My own research, using figures going back to 1990, show that 23 per cent of all farm fatalities involve children. This should not be happening.
"Over the past decade, on average three children have died each year on Irish farms and, already this year, we have one child dead. Farms have a special problem insofar as the working area is also the living area. They are different from industrial sites, but we know that the majority of accidents happen in the farmyard itself.
"I would like to appeal again to farmers to go out into their yards and look at how they can minimise danger by ensuring that machinery, electrical and other equipment is safe, and there is no danger from slurry pits."
Mr McTiernan said 27 people died in Irish farm accidents last year, but it was of very serious concern that six of these were children.
He said three adults had been killed by livestock, a bull, a cow and a stag, and the first farm death this year, in Donegal, had been caused by a bull.
He expected that the Farm Safety Task Force would come forward with new initiatives to try to reduce deaths in the coming year, especially of children.
"It is also sad to note that there are far too many serious accidents on farms, and there is frequently just a small margin between serious accidents and fatalities," he said.