With just two nights left in the arduous IFA election hustings calendar, the three presidential candidates Henry Burns, Joe Healy and Flor McCarthy were treated to a quiet night in Co Kildare.
The Co Kildare husting, the third last in this IFA election,was chaired by Kildare IFA vice chairman Roy Galley
He thanked the three candidates for addressing Kildare and West Wicklow farmers. He urged all present to turn out to vote and told them to encourage neighbouring farmers to do the same.
Varied questions
The candidates faced a broad range of questions on Tuesday night, everything from how to tackle supermarket powers, to Department inspections, Brexit and the future of IFA levies. As West Wicklow is part of Kildare for IFA purposes, the issue of TB and deer arose a number of times.
There was some unhappiness that the candidates for the deputy presidency were not able to take part in the debate. This was due to the fact that Pat Farrell is Kildare IFA chairman and is is running in the deputy race.
The candidates will next visit counties Meath and Offaly.
You can follow our blog as it happened in Kildare below
11.03pm
The debating format was agreed by the candidates, Henry Burns says. It was because of the high number of debates involved in this election. On TB, the opinions of local farmers must be listened to, he says. He addressed the issue of access to veterinary and pesticide products. “We’re using fewer and less animal health products but must be prepared to fight to keep access to them.” He favours the use of an EU license that would cover all member states.
Flor McCarthy favours the restoration of the animal health committee given the problems in a number of counties such as Wicklow and Clare. Ireland must have access to all licensed products, he says. Flor said that the candidates have addressed about 28 county meetings. “A few more wouldn’t have hurt us,” he adds.
10.53pm
The issue of deer, TB and the former animal health committee is raised again. If deer have to be culled then so be it, says Joe Healy. The Department need to show a more understanding approach to tackling the issue, he says.
He agrees with Mary Waters that the debates should include all candidates.
10.50pm
Mary Waters of Naas/Caragh objects strongly to the fact that the candidates for the deputy presidency aren’t here to speak to Kildare farmers and to answer their questions.
10.30pm
How will IFA get young farmers involved; difficulties in the cereal sector; will the Dowling reforms be reviewed.
If we can make a difference to their own enterprise, then IFA can get young farmers involved in the organisation, Flow McCarthy says. We must look at long term leasing. On cereal farming, we have to move to more farm to farm trading. To do that we need a body that can guarantee payment to the farmer selling.
Flor says that it’s vital to get cheaper finance for farmers. That’s how farmers can drive on and expand their businesses. On IFA structures he says that the Con Lucey proposals on governance must be developed further. The organisation was set up by farmers and belongs to them, he says.
It’s unacceptable that farmers in partnerships are still waiting for 2015 payment, he says. It’s one reason why Minister Simon Coveney had a difficult general election.
It’s vital there is a follow through of young farmers into IFA, Joe Healy says. Branch meetings could be an important mechanism for doing so, he says. If cereal farmers aren’t getting a profit they will leave the seed in the bag. It’s unacceptable that banks are selling farmers’ loans to a vulture funds.
The Dowling report centralised power and caused the problems seen in recent months, he said. He wants to see the commodity committees given a greater say in the organisation.
Income is the big issue in relation to young farmers, Henry Burns says. They can get technical information from discussion groups or other sources. But what IFA can offer is work to maximise their incomes.
There’s zero percent finance available now yet farmers are on 6%, he said. Why can’t the barriers be broken down to allow farmers have access to cheapest funding. Farmers are being asked to pay high interest to rescue the banks.
On IFA, we need to go back and look at how IFA got into the position it’s in. New structures may be required.
10.00pm
The next questions are on the difficulties caused by inspections, also levies and Brexit. A farmer said he had been inspected four times in six years, delaying his payments and hitting his family income.
It does appear that some people are inspected again and again, says Henry Burns. “We’ll have to look at that again.” The stress must be taken out of farm inspections, he says. Farmers feel guilty until proven innocent. IFA will have to challenge the Department more strongly on this. Inspection should not delay payment.
“On levies, I accept there is a perception that levies compromise the organisation,” he says. He will review the system and bring proposals back to county executive. “The membership has to be happy with the way we fund the organisation.”
The biggest effect of Brexit would be devaluation of Sterling, he says. We have to try influence Irish people living in the UK to vote in the right way.
On inspections, farmers need a yellow card system, Flor McCarthy says. “IFA has to hold Commissioner Phil Hogan to his commitments on simplification.” On levies, he said he is committed to carrying out a full review. Brexit is a major concern, he says. They are a big contributor to the EU budget. “They’re our major exporting partner.” Flor says that a lot of finishers have moved away from IFA – they feel it’s not working in their interests. We need to talk to them and get them involved.
The whole overlap of inspections needs to be tackled, Joe Healy says. There are too many. A lot of farmers feel vulnerable at time of inspection. IFA could offer a service to actively help farmers who are chosen for inspection, he says.
The levy funding collected by the factories is the contentious one, he says. There is no controversy about levies collected by marts, for example. But the distrust among farmers is so high that we have no choice but to review them. But the levies are a significant part of IFA’s incomes, he said.
On Brexit, he noted that farmers in NI would need product price to rise by 30% to compensate for the resulting losses.
9.30pm
Chairman Roy Galley takes three questions: how can farmers become price makers not price takers; what can IFA do differently in future to restore the position and incomes of farmers; how can IFA restore the trust of members?
Joe Healy speaks of the new Groceries Regulations. Further progress is needed, he says. He wants an actual ban on below cost selling and transparency on retailer profits. “In Germany they have a ban on below cost selling.” We can’t continue with dairy, beef, pig and grain farmers all selling at under the cost of production, he says. On trust, it requires transparency, he says. “It has to be won back.”
Up next is Henry. We’ve heard a lot of lip service from politicians on this, he says. But if we’re serious about getting an income for farmers we need more legislation on retailers. There’s over capacity in the retail sector, he says. They’re dealing with that by depriving farmers of any margin.
Restoring farmer incomes will require better prices but also an increase in the CAP budget. We need payments linked back to production once again, he says. “There’s nothing for any farmer to fear in that.” The CAP budget must be increased. The trade blocks that are pushing for more free trade are the very ones that protect their own farmers, he says.
On IFA, trust can be restored, he says. IFA can be made into the most effective farm organisation in Europe.
Flor wants a ban on selling of food at under the cost of production. Otherwise the practice will destroy the whole sector, he says. In future there will be more part time farmers, he says. IFA has to keep those people farming.
Trust and transparency are the same thing, he says. If it is to be effective IFA must restore these. Otherwise having 85,000 members is of no use.
9.00pm
Finally, Henry Burns gives his address. He wants to restore members’ trust in the organisation, he says. He wants to protect the values that have been so important to IFA over the years, volunteerism and helping other farmers.
But the membership of IFA has changed with time. More farmers work off the farm, or their spouses do. People want to spend time with their families and children. So members have less time now. The organisation has to change to take account of that.
“We’ve a huge problem with farm income,” he says. “It’s 67% of what it was in 1995.” Supports are vital - but we should not apologise for that. Nowhere around the world now is there successful agriculture without support payments to farmers.
Dairy intervention price must be brought up. On beef, the key issue is competition. We need all the markets we can get, for beef or live. IFA has worked very hard on this issue, he says. It helped get Egypt open, progress is being made on Turkey. “We need every market we can get.”
On grain, our price here is €8 to €10 below the price of imported grain. “We need to get that money.” He wants more Irish grain to go into high value whiskey production. And there is too much regulation on tillage farmers.
He touches on QA. It’s costing farmers too much, it’s taking too long. “We need a fair, farmer friendly approach to it.” We don’t need all of this compliance being given away for free to retailers and fast food chains. They’ll take it and come back for more.
Farmers now need a united IFA, he says, and he wants to lead that united organisation.
8.50pm
Next up is Galway’s finest - Joe Healy. He refers to the events that have triggered this IFA election. “Change has to take place,” he says, “change that allows us rebuild trust.” He wants to reinvigorate the branch structure.
“The related issues of pay [in IFA] and levies also have to be addressed,” he says. Other issues include commodity prices, Brexit, rural crime, access to and cost of finance, Fair Deal scheme, young farmers, animal health.
Joe wants to address the issue of delays in EU payments to farmers. He wants a robust charter of rights that works. He touches on beef: there’s huge confusion on price, he says. The gap between here and the UK has opened to €300 per animal.
On sheep he says that flock owners need the €20 per ewe payment. Hill sheep farmers need full representation in IFA, he says. On dairy, farmers “need help”, he said. He had hoped for suspension of superlevy by Brussels, for movement on intervention price. Grain farmers are taking the same prices that they got 30 years ago, he said.
Joe says he has the experience to be president of IFA having served in a wide variety of leadership roles.
8.41pm
The Kildare husting has kicked off. So far, the crowd is small with plenty of seats free.
Flor McCarthy is first to speak. He speaks about his family and his keenness to have young people involved in farming. A big problem for IFA it that it hasn’t communicated well enough with its members, he says. It hasn’t made enough use of modern technology, it hasn’t got enough credit for what it has achieved. Better communication will be important going forward.
Flor wants to involve the members on the ground. IFA must taken control of the issues that are important, eg inspections. As president he will be tougher on such issues.
He speaks of his experience and achievements as rural development chairman. Although Minister Simon Coveney was not easy to deal with, the rural development team achieved TAMS funding for most enterprises. Flor expects grant aid for tillage farmers to be announced shortly. It’s needed as the sector is under big pressure, he says. Flor is conscious of the many tillage farmers in Kildare.
8.00pm
Welcome to the IFA hustings live from the Keadeen Hotel. We will begin our live blog shortly. Only presidential candidates will debate tonight as one of the deputy hopefuls, Pat Farrell, is a local here.
The Irish Farmers Journal will continue to bring you live blogs of all debates where presidential candidates are present at Farmersjournal.ie and on the mobile app.
Meath |
Newgrange Hotel, Navan |
Wed 23 Mar |
Offaly |
Tullamore Court Hotel |
Tue 29 Mar |
Read more
Full coverage: IFA elections 2016
With just two nights left in the arduous IFA election hustings calendar, the three presidential candidates Henry Burns, Joe Healy and Flor McCarthy were treated to a quiet night in Co Kildare.
The Co Kildare husting, the third last in this IFA election,was chaired by Kildare IFA vice chairman Roy Galley
He thanked the three candidates for addressing Kildare and West Wicklow farmers. He urged all present to turn out to vote and told them to encourage neighbouring farmers to do the same.
Varied questions
The candidates faced a broad range of questions on Tuesday night, everything from how to tackle supermarket powers, to Department inspections, Brexit and the future of IFA levies. As West Wicklow is part of Kildare for IFA purposes, the issue of TB and deer arose a number of times.
There was some unhappiness that the candidates for the deputy presidency were not able to take part in the debate. This was due to the fact that Pat Farrell is Kildare IFA chairman and is is running in the deputy race.
The candidates will next visit counties Meath and Offaly.
You can follow our blog as it happened in Kildare below
11.03pm
The debating format was agreed by the candidates, Henry Burns says. It was because of the high number of debates involved in this election. On TB, the opinions of local farmers must be listened to, he says. He addressed the issue of access to veterinary and pesticide products. “We’re using fewer and less animal health products but must be prepared to fight to keep access to them.” He favours the use of an EU license that would cover all member states.
Flor McCarthy favours the restoration of the animal health committee given the problems in a number of counties such as Wicklow and Clare. Ireland must have access to all licensed products, he says. Flor said that the candidates have addressed about 28 county meetings. “A few more wouldn’t have hurt us,” he adds.
10.53pm
The issue of deer, TB and the former animal health committee is raised again. If deer have to be culled then so be it, says Joe Healy. The Department need to show a more understanding approach to tackling the issue, he says.
He agrees with Mary Waters that the debates should include all candidates.
10.50pm
Mary Waters of Naas/Caragh objects strongly to the fact that the candidates for the deputy presidency aren’t here to speak to Kildare farmers and to answer their questions.
10.30pm
How will IFA get young farmers involved; difficulties in the cereal sector; will the Dowling reforms be reviewed.
If we can make a difference to their own enterprise, then IFA can get young farmers involved in the organisation, Flow McCarthy says. We must look at long term leasing. On cereal farming, we have to move to more farm to farm trading. To do that we need a body that can guarantee payment to the farmer selling.
Flor says that it’s vital to get cheaper finance for farmers. That’s how farmers can drive on and expand their businesses. On IFA structures he says that the Con Lucey proposals on governance must be developed further. The organisation was set up by farmers and belongs to them, he says.
It’s unacceptable that farmers in partnerships are still waiting for 2015 payment, he says. It’s one reason why Minister Simon Coveney had a difficult general election.
It’s vital there is a follow through of young farmers into IFA, Joe Healy says. Branch meetings could be an important mechanism for doing so, he says. If cereal farmers aren’t getting a profit they will leave the seed in the bag. It’s unacceptable that banks are selling farmers’ loans to a vulture funds.
The Dowling report centralised power and caused the problems seen in recent months, he said. He wants to see the commodity committees given a greater say in the organisation.
Income is the big issue in relation to young farmers, Henry Burns says. They can get technical information from discussion groups or other sources. But what IFA can offer is work to maximise their incomes.
There’s zero percent finance available now yet farmers are on 6%, he said. Why can’t the barriers be broken down to allow farmers have access to cheapest funding. Farmers are being asked to pay high interest to rescue the banks.
On IFA, we need to go back and look at how IFA got into the position it’s in. New structures may be required.
10.00pm
The next questions are on the difficulties caused by inspections, also levies and Brexit. A farmer said he had been inspected four times in six years, delaying his payments and hitting his family income.
It does appear that some people are inspected again and again, says Henry Burns. “We’ll have to look at that again.” The stress must be taken out of farm inspections, he says. Farmers feel guilty until proven innocent. IFA will have to challenge the Department more strongly on this. Inspection should not delay payment.
“On levies, I accept there is a perception that levies compromise the organisation,” he says. He will review the system and bring proposals back to county executive. “The membership has to be happy with the way we fund the organisation.”
The biggest effect of Brexit would be devaluation of Sterling, he says. We have to try influence Irish people living in the UK to vote in the right way.
On inspections, farmers need a yellow card system, Flor McCarthy says. “IFA has to hold Commissioner Phil Hogan to his commitments on simplification.” On levies, he said he is committed to carrying out a full review. Brexit is a major concern, he says. They are a big contributor to the EU budget. “They’re our major exporting partner.” Flor says that a lot of finishers have moved away from IFA – they feel it’s not working in their interests. We need to talk to them and get them involved.
The whole overlap of inspections needs to be tackled, Joe Healy says. There are too many. A lot of farmers feel vulnerable at time of inspection. IFA could offer a service to actively help farmers who are chosen for inspection, he says.
The levy funding collected by the factories is the contentious one, he says. There is no controversy about levies collected by marts, for example. But the distrust among farmers is so high that we have no choice but to review them. But the levies are a significant part of IFA’s incomes, he said.
On Brexit, he noted that farmers in NI would need product price to rise by 30% to compensate for the resulting losses.
9.30pm
Chairman Roy Galley takes three questions: how can farmers become price makers not price takers; what can IFA do differently in future to restore the position and incomes of farmers; how can IFA restore the trust of members?
Joe Healy speaks of the new Groceries Regulations. Further progress is needed, he says. He wants an actual ban on below cost selling and transparency on retailer profits. “In Germany they have a ban on below cost selling.” We can’t continue with dairy, beef, pig and grain farmers all selling at under the cost of production, he says. On trust, it requires transparency, he says. “It has to be won back.”
Up next is Henry. We’ve heard a lot of lip service from politicians on this, he says. But if we’re serious about getting an income for farmers we need more legislation on retailers. There’s over capacity in the retail sector, he says. They’re dealing with that by depriving farmers of any margin.
Restoring farmer incomes will require better prices but also an increase in the CAP budget. We need payments linked back to production once again, he says. “There’s nothing for any farmer to fear in that.” The CAP budget must be increased. The trade blocks that are pushing for more free trade are the very ones that protect their own farmers, he says.
On IFA, trust can be restored, he says. IFA can be made into the most effective farm organisation in Europe.
Flor wants a ban on selling of food at under the cost of production. Otherwise the practice will destroy the whole sector, he says. In future there will be more part time farmers, he says. IFA has to keep those people farming.
Trust and transparency are the same thing, he says. If it is to be effective IFA must restore these. Otherwise having 85,000 members is of no use.
9.00pm
Finally, Henry Burns gives his address. He wants to restore members’ trust in the organisation, he says. He wants to protect the values that have been so important to IFA over the years, volunteerism and helping other farmers.
But the membership of IFA has changed with time. More farmers work off the farm, or their spouses do. People want to spend time with their families and children. So members have less time now. The organisation has to change to take account of that.
“We’ve a huge problem with farm income,” he says. “It’s 67% of what it was in 1995.” Supports are vital - but we should not apologise for that. Nowhere around the world now is there successful agriculture without support payments to farmers.
Dairy intervention price must be brought up. On beef, the key issue is competition. We need all the markets we can get, for beef or live. IFA has worked very hard on this issue, he says. It helped get Egypt open, progress is being made on Turkey. “We need every market we can get.”
On grain, our price here is €8 to €10 below the price of imported grain. “We need to get that money.” He wants more Irish grain to go into high value whiskey production. And there is too much regulation on tillage farmers.
He touches on QA. It’s costing farmers too much, it’s taking too long. “We need a fair, farmer friendly approach to it.” We don’t need all of this compliance being given away for free to retailers and fast food chains. They’ll take it and come back for more.
Farmers now need a united IFA, he says, and he wants to lead that united organisation.
8.50pm
Next up is Galway’s finest - Joe Healy. He refers to the events that have triggered this IFA election. “Change has to take place,” he says, “change that allows us rebuild trust.” He wants to reinvigorate the branch structure.
“The related issues of pay [in IFA] and levies also have to be addressed,” he says. Other issues include commodity prices, Brexit, rural crime, access to and cost of finance, Fair Deal scheme, young farmers, animal health.
Joe wants to address the issue of delays in EU payments to farmers. He wants a robust charter of rights that works. He touches on beef: there’s huge confusion on price, he says. The gap between here and the UK has opened to €300 per animal.
On sheep he says that flock owners need the €20 per ewe payment. Hill sheep farmers need full representation in IFA, he says. On dairy, farmers “need help”, he said. He had hoped for suspension of superlevy by Brussels, for movement on intervention price. Grain farmers are taking the same prices that they got 30 years ago, he said.
Joe says he has the experience to be president of IFA having served in a wide variety of leadership roles.
8.41pm
The Kildare husting has kicked off. So far, the crowd is small with plenty of seats free.
Flor McCarthy is first to speak. He speaks about his family and his keenness to have young people involved in farming. A big problem for IFA it that it hasn’t communicated well enough with its members, he says. It hasn’t made enough use of modern technology, it hasn’t got enough credit for what it has achieved. Better communication will be important going forward.
Flor wants to involve the members on the ground. IFA must taken control of the issues that are important, eg inspections. As president he will be tougher on such issues.
He speaks of his experience and achievements as rural development chairman. Although Minister Simon Coveney was not easy to deal with, the rural development team achieved TAMS funding for most enterprises. Flor expects grant aid for tillage farmers to be announced shortly. It’s needed as the sector is under big pressure, he says. Flor is conscious of the many tillage farmers in Kildare.
8.00pm
Welcome to the IFA hustings live from the Keadeen Hotel. We will begin our live blog shortly. Only presidential candidates will debate tonight as one of the deputy hopefuls, Pat Farrell, is a local here.
The Irish Farmers Journal will continue to bring you live blogs of all debates where presidential candidates are present at Farmersjournal.ie and on the mobile app.
Meath |
Newgrange Hotel, Navan |
Wed 23 Mar |
Offaly |
Tullamore Court Hotel |
Tue 29 Mar |
Read more
Full coverage: IFA elections 2016
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