“I ran a campaign for change and I now intend to deliver it,” Tim Cullinan told the cheering crowd in the Castleknock Hotel on Tuesday night.

“My presidency will be about action more than words. We have to get a decent price for beef farmers,” he said.

“The mood among farmers was very clear,” he reiterated to the Irish Farmers Journal moments later. “Farmers want change.”

Mandate

Cullinan believes he has a mandate to bring farmers together.

“The only winners when farmers are divided are those that we are fighting against,” as he put it in his acceptance speech.

He doubled down on that sentiment.

It’s with one voice that we will deliver on prices, deliver on CAP and on the environment

“Farmers don’t want division in our association. I’ve said since the start of my campaign, division is wrong. I will do everything in my power in my time as president of IFA to reunite farmers in IFA . We have to have one voice if we want to deliver for farmers.”

Cullinan believes that this is critical in terms of tackling the big issues facing farming.

“It’s with one voice that we will deliver on prices, deliver on CAP and on the environment. Whatever the issue is facing farmers, we have to be united and have one voice delivering on behalf of farmers.”

Other farm groups

Asked if that means he intends to reach out to other farm groups, be it Beef Plan, the Independent Farmers or the Individual Farmers, all of whom had members attending the hustings, Cullinan said: “What I have always said is I will work with all farmers. I sincerely hope that all farmers will work with me. I am calling out to all the other groups that we will work together. I think it’s critical that we do work together going forward.”

I will always weigh up the options, I firmly believe in negotiation first

He was famously supportive of the farmers who protested at factory gates in the summer. Would he take direct action as IFA president?

“I will always weigh up the options, I firmly believe in negotiation first.

“But obviously if negotiation doesn’t work, yes, I would take absolutely take direct action.”

In relation to CAP reform, will he continue the IFA policy of upward-only convergence and the increased budget that would require?

“We have to fight, we have to go back and fight for a bigger budget.

“We understand where we are now, more than likely we will have Brexit. My responsibility is to look after farmers and I absolutely will fight for a bigger budget,” he vowed.