When I heard of the death of Ann Gibbons, my mind went right back to when I had just left college.

We were at a meeting of the Kildare IFA county executive in Lawlors Hotel, Naas, Co Kildare, when suddenly we were called out to the street to witness and protest at the trucks used to transport the confiscated Gibbons family furniture.

The furniture was seized during the bitter IFA protests at the continuation of rates on agricultural land.

The IFA campaign was fully vindicated in a historic Supreme Court decision that declared the system unconstitutional.

Born into the Kilkenny Crotty family, Ann’s death marks the end of a remarkable generation of a Kilkenny family steeped in farming and politics. Ann’s husband Michael was a progressive and successful tillage farmer.

When he was sent to prison, Ann took his place on the steps

Active in the IFA, Michael Gibbons was one of the nine farmers who sat on the steps of the Department of Agriculture during the 1966 Farmers’ Rights campaign. When he was sent to prison, Ann took his place on the steps.

He also became president of the co-operative body ICOS, while his brother Jim served with distinction as the Minister for Agriculture in Jack Lynch’s cabinet.

Ann was left a widow before her time when Michael, in 1989, suffered a massive heart attack and died, leaving her to bring up their 12 children on her own. By any standards, Ann was a formidable and capable mother and farmer. She continued to run the farm at Kilree and was made an honorary life member of the IFA in 2006.

Ann was deeply involved in local activities and chaired the Kilkenny Leader board.

We will not see her likes again

Every year, I would meet her at the Irish Farmers Journal Women and Agriculture conference organised by Mairead Lavery.

She would fill me in on the family, her travels to her by now far-flung family and her views on current farming conditions. We will not see her likes again.

May she rest in peace and our deepest sympathy to her family and many friends.