The Dealer has received an incendiary email from McNamara’s office, complaining that he “was omitted from the party’s lineup” when Labour leader Joan Burton was invited to address IFA representatives this week, flanked by Longford-Westmeath TD Willie Penrose in the role of the knowledgeable farming sidekick.

Penrose and McNamara sit on the joint Oireachtas committee for agriculture.

McNamara was quick to point out that he is an IFA member, “a rarity in the parliamentary Labour Party”, and had a claim to his share of the limelight. Although, in the present scenario, it is rare to see somebody admitting their allegiance to the IFA.

Joan is trying to silence any criticism of Fine Gael’s stewardship of the Department of Agriculture and not for the first time

The Clare farmer and TD proudly hinted that he may be too much of a loose cannon within the Fine Gael-Labour coalition to be exhibited on the campaign trail. In fact, neither he nor Penrose are Labour saints, as both characters lost the party whip over the course of this Government. Indeed, Penrose resigned his super junior minister position over the closure of Columb barracks.

“Joan is trying to silence any criticism of Fine Gael’s stewardship of the Department of Agriculture and not for the first time,” McNamara said. “While I am very happy to acknowledge Simon Coveney’s achievements, the Beef Forum, which he championed, has shown itself to be an ineffective talking shop and the rules, which make it very difficult to obtain a licence to export cattle by boat, remain unchanged despite the predictions of oversupply in 2016. I will continue to fight these rules, which have an anti-competitive effect, even if it ruffles some feathers,” he added.

Competition complaint

McNamara went on to describe himself as “a vocal critic of Government inaction on falling beef prices” and pointed out that he – and not only Minister Coveney – had recently lodged a competition complaint on the proposed ABP-Slaney Foods deal.

McNamara certainly has a point in relation to his credentials on farming issues. He may also have noticed that Labour is not the most popular of parties in rural constituencies in recent polls, and the frequency of his run-ins with the Government has increased markedly in the months preceding the election. A bit of distance can do no harm, and has not stopped him from being included on the Labour ticket.

After all, Burton herself promised rural voters ”the best of both worlds” in the Irish Farmers Journal this week.