A total of 72pc of farmers with guns would use them to defend themselves and their property if they had to.
The survey of over 1,000 farmers found while 91pc say they feel safe in their home, 63pc said they would try defend themselves rather than calling the Gardai and of the 40pc who keep a gun in their house 72pc said they would use it to defend themselves.
The survey was carried out by www.FarmIreland.ie.
Respondents who said they would try defend themselves said they would use hurleys; slash hooks; pokers in the event of an intruder breaking in.
Some respondents claimed to have used a firearm in previous incidents on their property.
Recent figures show that two-thirds of farmers have been the victims of crime and the FarmIreland.ie survey shows that farmers in the West and North West are more likely to not feel safe in their own home than those in the rest of the country.
The poll result comes some 13 years since the infamous case of farmer Padraig Nally who shot dead John Ward for trespassing on his land in Mayo.
Today, many farmers told the survey authors that they only feel safe because they have a gun in the house, keep dogs or have electronic gates or even camera systems in place.
There are over 200,000 legally held firearms in Ireland and estimates put the number of unregistered firearms at 150,000 and of the 40pc who said they keep a gun, older farmers are more likely to have a gun in the house.
Older farmers are more likely to feel unsafe, the survey found, with 18pc of those over 65 years of age saying they don’t feel safe in their home. In contrast, just 1pc of those 18-34 years of age said they feel unsafe.
When you meet a young person of your acquaintance for the first time in ages, chances are you’ll say something like “How you’ve grown!” or some other phrase observing a significant physical change.
They were also more likely to try defend themselves than younger farmers – 47pc of 18-34 year olds said they would call the Gardai.
