This is a subscriber-only article
The Sligo/Leitrim husting in Carrick-on-Shannon, the only meeting to be shared between counties, saw a wide range of issues raised- some local, some national.
A crowd of about 200 gathered in the Bush Hotel in Carrick-on Shannon for the meeting, which ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning. The room was mainly made up of Leitrim farmers with Sligo taking offence at having to share the night with Leitrim. Sligo and Leitrim are the only two counties to share a hustings. Every other county is staging its own debate over the course of the campaign.
The switch of Aurivo production from Tubbercurry to Cork, forestry, water charges, fracking, and Brexit shared the stage with the more typical issues of incomes, schemes, governance, and levies. Joe Healy disputed Flor McCarthy’s claim that when he was Kerry chairman, Kerry paid the highest milk price in the country.
Logjam
Naturally, the regional chair logjam was raised. Eddie Davitt said that Sligo are proposing he position be rotated between the counties of the province.
This was the first of five meetings in what will be a gruelling week. Tuesday the debate is in Roscommon, with the Donegal meeting on Wednesday. Cavan is on Thursday, with Dublin on Friday.
You can follow all these debates lives on www.farmersjournal.ie. There will also be extensive coverage in this week's Irish Farmers Journal.
You can read all the events as they happened in our blog below.
12.16am
The candidates now sum up. They will be brief, I'd wager, this has been a long meeting.
12.13am
JP Cowley, the Sligo chairman, is now addressing the meeting. He says that the region's farmers are under threat. He says a lot of the best suckler farmers in the region are not in the genomics scheme. He describes weight limits as “the sixth quarter for the factories". he adds that live exports must be maintained and IFA must fight for their retention and encouragement by government.
12.10am
Joe describes the loss of the grassland scheme as something that shouldn't have happened. He wants the restoration of a €20 ewe payment to replace it. On the regional chair, he says that "we had a chance to sort it out, and we didn't" he says that the five candidates should be left in. This is not accepted by the floor. The sentiment seems to be that this would play into Galway's hands.
12.05am
Joe refers back to fracking, forgotten earlier. He said that he is opposed to fracking. He also revisits levies, but quite a number of people have moved down the back and are having a cuppa.
12.03am
Henry says that Simon Coveney had "a blind spot" regarding drystock farming. "The next Minister needs an advisor with experience of farming on the ground that was a problem in the last administration" Henry adds his support to the need for a resolution of the regional chair logjam.
12.01am
Good morning. Thanks for staying with us. Flor answers first. He says that designations and restrictions are a problem, that full compensation for restrictions is required. "If all the land on the western seaboard becomes designated, it will hamper our ability to farm our land properly. He says the part-time rule should never have been in place, and has to go "it has no place in this organisation, part-time farmers play a huge role in IFA. He says that one county dominating is unacceptable. "It’s happening in other provinces as well" he says. Could Flor be referring to his neighbouring Cork?
11.55pm
Pat Gilhooley is next up. Pat is a former chairman of Leitrim, and is a candidate for the chair of the rural development committee. He wants a commitment on the part-time farmer rule. Linked to that, Eddie Davitt comes back in, and says that his county, Sligo is proposing a rotating chairmanship through the five counties in the region. He says that Galway has dominated the position for 19 of the last 25 years.
11.52pm
This will be the first hustings to slip past midnight it seems, with questions still coming in. The hill sheep chairman is next, describing the loss of the sheep grassland scheme, which was absorbed into the new CAP payment, as "a complete disaster". He also speaks of designations and their effect on hill farmers.
11.46pm
And now it's Henry. On Aurivo, he says the brand is important and should be protected. He understands that investment is needed in the plant, but says the prospect of Cork milk going into Aurivo butter is "a genuine worry". On levies, Henry is committed to a review, and within twelve months. On water, he is paying charges, on a metered group scheme "one we have managed to keep hold of, one we're very proud of".
On forestry, Henry refers back to his earlier point, that livestock farming and dairy farming sees local processing. He doubts this would be the case in Germany. On liquid milk, below-cost selling is important. Henry talks about team play, an issue referred to by a questioner. He reveals he played rugby- in the front row. "You have to get down on the ground sometimes" he says. "Tenacity, persistence, are important".
11.42pm
Joe says that Glanbia are about to offer fixed milk price contracts at 29c/l for 33 months- almost three years.
11.38pm
When mentioning milk price, Joe returns to something Flor said at the outset, and has said on other nights, that Kerry paid the leading milk price when he was the Kerry county chairman. Joe says that the record shows that Kerry did not pay a leading milk price, but were between fourth and sixth in the milk league. "I will only tell you the truth" Joe says.
11.34pm
Joe is next. He describes Aurivo's move to Cork as "extremely disappointing" from a cc-op he has often praised in the past. He wonders if anything can still be done, and offers any assistance he can give. Coming from what he describes as "the forgotten region" he understands the absolute necessity of keeping jobs in the region. Someone from the floor had mentioned Siobhan Talbot, the CEO of Glanbia, as having a salary of over €1m. Joe says it was €1.9m last year, and many others in Glanbia have high wages that do not reflect milk price.
11.30m
Flor is first to respond. He agrees that farmers are losing while milk price stays up in supermarkets. He says that forestry is not in the rural development programme, it was an issue that was raised and was a concern, but IFA fought against that successfully. The first questioner said that forestry had been part of the RDP. Flor says it is completely funded nationally, and that forestry policy can be adjusted.
On Aurivo, Flor draws a parallel with Kerry placing its new R&D facility in Kildare, and suspects government funding is encouraging such moves. On water charges, Flor says he is paying for water for twenty years, but cannot believe that IFA lobbied for their inclusion.
11.25pm
A further contributor from the floor- it's going to be hard for the candidates to cover all that's coming at them now. This is more of a statement, but he is then followed by Padraig Mulligan, a former national dairy committee chairman. He wonders if there is any future for young farmers. "We're too soft in IFA" he says. He says that Connacht farmers are losing €3m on liquid milk alone, and points the finger at Glanbia for "coming down here and flooding the market".
11.22pm
She says that over thirty percent of Leitrim is planted, not seventeen as was said earlier. I wrongly wrote seventy! What was I thinking!
11.20pm
The next contribution is from the first woman to speak tonight. She says that Eddie Downey was "made mincemeat of" by his executive, but praises Jer Bergin for his work as national chairman since Downey departed.
11.18pm
Jackie Marron concludes that IFA need to twist a few arms, or even kick a few arses, to keep those jobs in Sligo. He gets the biggest round of applause of the night.
11.15pm
A question from Jackie Marron on IFA's attitude to water charges. He says that it was IFA called for water meters, and kept it under wraps. He says that Sligo was the first county to get water meters. He has a letter to this effect, and will talk to the candidates on this issue afterwards. He adds his opposition to Aurivo moving butter spread manufacturing from Tubbercurry to Cork. He says it will cost 22 jobs.
11.01pm
Flor says that access to land is key, but land prices are out of control. He is involved in a lease, and recommends leasing and would encourage it. "We cannot let forestry take over the countryside" says Flor. On fracking, Flor says "anything that attacks our Green Ireland image is a bad idea, and if fracking is allowed we're in a funny country".
11.07pm
Henry says that membership would have to be increased, but the principle of proportionality, where farm size is linked to payment levels, is maintained. On Brexit, Henry welcomes today's development where a number of British farm and agri leaders have come out against Brexit, and in favour of staying in Europe. Henry is opposed to fracking in Ireland.
On young farmers, Henry says that access to land and finance and schemes is only part of the picture- income is the key to viability for all farmers and especially young and developing farmers.
11.05pm
Joe says that, long-term leasing is working, but needs further encouragement to become more prevalent.
11.01pm
Kieran Clancy, a Macra and IFA member is next. “I’m going to seriously reconsider my IFA membership unless there is a bigger push for young farmers to gain access to land, to finance, and to education" he says.
A question to Henry Burns -“what should the IFA membership increase to if the levies go”.
Two more questions from the same person with local and regional significance –Brexit and fracking.
Joe Healy says “Brexit would be a serious issue for Ireland. Irish farming would be badly affected; we export €4.5bn of food and drink –almost a billion for both beef and dairy”. On access to finance, Joe raises the possibility of Ulster Bank selling loans on to "vulture funds".
10.46pm
Joe goes straight after Henry on the beef forum. He says that the forum is a talking shop, and it allows the Minister to talk and avoid action. He says that the forum and the grid have let farmers down. Joe clarifies that the grid needs to be reviewed, not removed. "The great continental cattle from this region are only coming into their own at 450 kg carcase weight". He says that the factories are getting significant quantities of beef free (I think he said 45kg per animal, Joe is talking faster than I can type).
"We need forums with teeth. If I'm part of any forum, I won't stay if it doesn't deliver" Joe adds. It's working well for the Minister, but he needs IFA in there to make it relevant".
10.42pm
Henry says that the beef forum was created by the Minister, "under pressure from IFA". He reminds the audience that in the first half of 2014, farmers weren't able to get cattle killed, and that led to the calls for the Minister to get involved directly. "Is there enough out of it? Hs the Minister done enough? No" he says, but you wouldn't have the weight cuts if the agreement was being implemented. "The Minister took his foot off the pedal" he says.
Henry says that rural development funds going to Teagasc (from the genomic scheme or the knowledge transfer groups) "is wrong". He is responding to Eddie Davitt's comments. On the grid, he says that since it came in, it has added value to better weanlings. A lot of young cattle leave the north-west for finishing in other counties, particularly in Leinster.
10.41pm
"There has to be lines drawn in the sand" says Flor. "We don't need a referee with the factories" There are three controlling interests in beef processing, he says, ABP, Dawn, and Kepak, and they need to be "taken on head-on".
10.35pm
A question from Jimmy Brett on the beef forum. "What will you do differently" he asks. He is followed by Eddie Davitt, the recent Sligo county chairman, and currently the Sligo nominee for the regional chair position. "Maybe IFA got too close and too pally with the department" he says, calling for the restoration of the DAS payments. He says that the money is being diverted into quangos. He describes the beef genomics scheme as "an absolute disaster".
“Go back, get that reversed, and no genomic scheme for sheep" Eddie concludes.
10.31pm
Henry says that farmers changed their voting patterns because of the 2008 cuts. I'm presuming he is using the Irish Farmers Journal's succession of REDC polls as his source material for that contention!
He says that Macra have done a very good job in forwarding issues for young farmers. He says that IFA has to modernise to fit young people's demands. "There's a huge challenges on people's time" he says. Henry says he came into IFA as the Macra representative to the Laois executive, and thus became national sheep chairman at 36, "but that's not for everyone".
10.27pm
Joe says that young farmers won't attend meetings at branch or county level if they go on too long, or are dominated by a few voices. He adds that IFA needs to be better at highlighting its achievements.
10.25pm
Joe describes GLAS as "REPS- lite". Flor won't like that, but they agree that its better supports for the mainstream enterprises that are needed. Joe congratulates Colm Stenson on his recent Macra leadership award, and says that he is the kind of person IFA need.
10.23pm
IFA is not a social organisation, it's there to put money in farmer's pockets" Flor says.
10.20pm
Flor says that forestry is an issue in many counties. He says that 70% of Leitrim is now planted. He points out that designations and environmental sensitivity is the only thing holding forestry back, and that many farmers would plant if they could. "We need a land policy" he says. He suggests that IFA needs the energy and enthusiasm of young people like Colm Stenson. "When I joined IFA 25 years ago, I thought I could change the world" he says.
10.18pm
The first questioner is Sean Gallagher. He says forestry is going to wipe farming out in county Leitrim unless the grants to livestock farmers are increased.
He is followed by Colm Stenson, a Macra member who is not an IFA member "What would ye, the candidates, do, to make me join IFA" he asks.
10.16pm
Joe gets the strongest applause of the three candidates- he is in his home province.
10.14pm
Joe refers to flooding. There should be one authority ofr the Shannon, not the seventeen he says currently exist. Dredging must be allowed, and "people and property must take precedence over flora and fauna" -the environmental lobby can have no veto, Joe says.
10.11pm
Joe says that the beef market and price has "disintegrated" in recent years, especially the last year. He lists grading, weight limits, and labelling. "The Beef Forum has delivered absolutely nothing" he says, expressing concern over the ABP/Slaney deal.
10.08pm
He mentions young farmers- who featured prominently in the questions from the floor in the deputy debate. Joe mentions the "unacceptable" delays in payments this year. "As president, I will accept nothing less than the entire first stage of the basic payment- if there are cuts, take them out of the second payment". "IFA must make sure that we have a robust and workable charter of rights" he adds.
10.04pm
Joe is up and running. He repeats his assertion that "the IFA is an organisation that needs to be run from the bottom up, and not from the top down". He wants to see each branch meeting more than once a year, suggesting quarterly meetings.
9.59pm
The challenge for us in IFA is to enforce on Government the work farming did keeping the economy afloat during the bad times. "We must drive home the issues that are important to us" he says, calling for the restoration of DAS payments to pre-2008 levels, and for the thresholds for GLAS (of €5,000 and €7,000 in GLAS +) to be increased significantly.
"The most important part of IFA is the branches out on the ground. I am the only presidential candidate who has served as a county chairman, I know the importance of the branches". Flor gets a strong reaction from the audience for a strong performance, he is growing into this contest.
9.54pm
Flor is next on his feet. He immediately lets the audience know he is farming similar land to them. "I'm a second generation Disadvantaged Area payment recipient" he says. He recalls his six years on the livestock committee, and his role in the beef blockade. "IFA needs to get back to its core work of representing farmers, driving product price, fighting for farmer' incomes". To do this, it needs to "siphon off" its commercial side, reporting back to and funding the core work of the IFA.
9.52pm
Henry says that the genomic scheme has been voiced in this room (we're in the Bush Hotel on Carrick-on-Shannon's main street). He reminds the room that Minister Coveney had cut the suckler cow payment to €20, and he got it up to €80. He adds that he will work for improvements to the scheme, acknowledging its flaws.
9.51pm
Henry says that the agricultural budget will have to be increased if necessary suckler and sheep scheme increases are to be delivered on. The crowd voice their agreement when he says that the next Minister for Agriculture must be dedicated to that task alone. He reveals that ABP have lodged their purchase of half of Slaney Meats in Brussels, and pledges that IFA will fight it.
9.48pm
On the levy, Henry says that if the levy is scrapped, then membership fees will have to be increased.
9.42pm
And we're straight into the presidential debate. "You are the part of IFA that has not been broken" he says. "The ordinary members". "It's clear that we must change the way we spend and collect our money" he adds. "We need very clear guidelines, first of all what we expect of people, and how much they are to be paid". On recruitment, Henry says there must be a change in approach - "either we didn't get the right advice, or we didn't take that advice" he says.
9.37pm
This will be a tough week- five nights in a row of hustings, from here in Carrick-on-Shannon, to Roscommon, then Donegal, Westmeath, and finally Dublin. Three provinces, and hundreds of miles, it's a daunting schedule.
9.35pm
The candidates look washed out, but it's the tone of lighting in the room rather than the energy levels of the three men, who look refreshed after the weekend. Chair of the first half of the proceedings, Leitrim chairman James Gallagher, is now calling on the three deputy candidates to sum up.
9.33pm
"If the Shannon was in Dublin, I know well it would have been drained years ago" says Pat Farrell. Richard Kennedy says that this winter gone by has been "a game changer" but that IFA has to pursue the issue of a single Shannon authority while the momentum is there in public opinion. "I'm on the Shannon, but the river is properly banked, and we're lucky"/
Nigel says that "it's (a single authority) an absolute necessity", and that the time for talk is over.
9.30pm
The next question is related to the Shannon- naturally a serious issue here. The questioner calls for a single authority to manage the river. He says that in the dry October, two feet of water was withheld in the river, which added to the later problems when the rains came and the river rose.
9.26pm
Richard responds to Nigel's (nightly) assertion that he has delivered for Limerick poultry farmers. "I can tell you that they will all give Nigel their number two vote". Much laughter. Nigel responds that he had only asked for the two from farmers in Richard’s home county- there seems to be genuine regard between the pair. Nigel adds that Teagasc's pension obligations is draining its resources.
Pat then points out the fact that in Kildare, they were involved in the creation of a new degree course in agriculture through Carlow IT, based in the Wexford campus.
9.23pm
Richard Kennedy welcomes the question. he has been on the board of Pallaskenry for many years, and says that five years ago, they feared it would have to close. "Whoever is Macra's representative on the Teagasc board will have an ally in me".
9.20pm
A question regarding Teagasc. The questioner bemoans the lack of an agricultural college in the area-Ballyhaise is the nearest, and is oversubscribed. He details the necessity of courses for the Green Cert, and the safety course for knowledge transfer participation and TAMS.
9.14pm
Questions move to young farmers and what they can do to support them. It's pointed out that only Nigel mentioned young farmers in his opening address.
9.10pm
Earlier than expected but inevitable I suppose. Sligo's rep on the IFA livestock committee is John Graham. A fine farmer he is too. But he has raised the question as to why Sligo is not hosting its own hustings and is sharing duties with Sligo. Sligo and Leitrim are the only two counties to share hustings. If you ask me, it should be applauded. Having a hustings in every single county is borderline madness. More counties should have followed the example of these two to ease the burden.
Anyways, Pat Farrell said that smaller counties can get "cannibalised" by the larger ones.
9.04pm
Last up is Nigel Renaghan. The Monaghan man returns to what has brought him to the table, his work as IFA poultry chairman. He said he delivered the "biggest increase in margin" for his sector ever. He adds that a "leader doesn't tell you what to do but shows you the way".
Point of intereset from Nigel's presentation is that he has a seat on Copa and he is involved in a Dutch university delivering a poultry programme for farmers here. Confident performance again from Renaghan.
9pm
Kenendy recalls the successful beef blockade when he was outside rathkele for a fortnight back in the early naughties. A successful blockade unlike the "recent one" Kennedy adds. He took to Twitter over the weekend to dispute our calling of this same statement in Westmeath on Friday night. His tweets are below. Hard to see it any other way than a cut at those who organised the 2014 beef protests. Again Kennedy talks about the people of 1966 who established the IFA and he majors on the need for more women in agriculture. His own wife is an economic advisor he tells us.
(1) Contrary to what was implied in the Irish Farmers Journal live feed of the debate in Mullingar, I did not 'take a swipe at Henry Burns'
— Richard Kennedy (@rkennedyifa) March 5, 2016
(2) I was merely speaking about the IFA council decision to abandon the last beef blockade. @farmersjournal #IFAelections
— Richard Kennedy (@rkennedyifa) March 5, 2016
8.58pm
It's the turn of Richard Kennedy. Kennedy says there is only one issue to be dealt with and that is to "restore trust and credibility to the organisation".
8.55pm
Farrell again references his work on the nitrates directive and also majors of below cost selling. The IFA staged a protest in Dublin today over the below cost selling of vegetables. And with that, Farrell is finished.
8.51pm
Pat Farrell is the first to speak and he says if he makes it as deputy president he wants to return the organisation to the grassroots and not have it run from the "top down".
8.50pm
Aaaannnnd we're off. Finally. Almost an hour late but Leitrim IFA chairman and chair of the proceedings James Gallagher is getting proceedings under way.
8.40pm
We're on Leitrim / Sligo time it seems tonight. No major sign of anyone to get going yet. Flor McCarthy has the posters well ready to roll.
No mistaking that my posters are signalling the start of a full week of IFA hustings.
— Flor McCarthy (@FlorMcCarthy1) March 7, 2016
Tonight I am in The Bush... https://t.co/DKi6Tpw2dK
8.30pm
We're still waiting for any major action here.
Crowd is gathering for the #ifaelection hustings for Sligo/Leitrim tonight. Follow it live at farmersjournal.ie pic.twitter.com/VNhcDQxvtK
— Farmers Journal (@farmersjournal) March 7, 2016
7.45pm
The Sligo and Leitrim executives of the IFA have decided to save people two journeys by combining debates. Every other county executive is hosting its own individual executive. I think the candidates will be pretty happy with that. Anyway, we'll be starting shortly so please so check in from around 8pm.
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.
| Roscommon | Abbey Hotel, Roscommon | Tue 8 Mar |
| Donegal | Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny | Wed 9 Mar |
| Cavan | Hotel Kilmore, Cavan | Thu 10 Mar |
| Dublin | White House, St Margarets | Fri 11 Mar |
| Longford | Longford Arms Hotel | Mon 14 Mar |
| Monaghan | Glencarn Hotel, Castleblaney | Tue 15 Mar |
| Louth | Dooleys Edmondstown, Ardee | Wed 16 Mar |
| Laois | Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Deputy presidential candidates only, no live blog | Mon 21 Mar |
| Kildare | Keadeen Hotel - presidential debate only | Mon 29 Feb |
| Meath | Newgrange Hotel, Navan | Wed 23 Mar |
| Offaly | Tullamore Court Hotel | Tue 29 Mar |
| South Tipperary | Cahir House Hotel, Cahir | Mon 29 Feb |
SHARING OPTIONS: