There is no escaping the fiasco on the first floor of the Farm Centre this week. It is a situation that could have been avoided if the accountability, honesty and traceability that farmers are expected to implement on their farms was put into practice by those who are both elected and paid to represent them. While the pay packets of the former general secretary for the two years in question were high, it is the sheer lack of respect shown to members by top brass that is more damaging. Respect is not expensive.

I was tasked with getting opinions on the IFA situation from farmers at Skibbereen Mart last Friday.

Getting opinion was easy but farmers were fearful of allowing their names to go with it. Fearful of what? Surely something is wrong in an organisation if there is a fear of repercussions among its members if they speak against it.

The exorbitantly high figure paid out in the year of the fodder crisis particularly upset farmers, who also said their direct debit membership fees were still collected while they struggled to deal with what was unfolding on farm.

The IFA may be in trouble with regards to personnel in the short term but what will the long-term financial effect be if farmers refuse to pay levies from now on? The EIF levy should be opt in and not opt out in the first place, but that’s for another day.

By acknowledging Con Lucey’s letters now, the IFA is also acknowledging that those who received them have ignored them since August 2014.

The IFA president Eddie Downey appears to be taking the brunt but he has only one vote on the executive council. If this was a positive news story, you wouldn’t be able to fit everyone who wanted credit in the photograph. There are very few in the higher echelons of the organisation who are not somewhat culpable in this situation.

This is an opportunity for the IFA to get its house in order but also an opportunity for farmers to have a think about what they require from their farm organisations and who they want to represent them. You can only sweep so much under the carpet before you trip up – the Catholic church in Ireland is a great example. Similar to the church, the good work of some within the IFA will be undone by others concerned with their own success. What has occurred within the IFA should act as a warning to other organisations to be more transparent. Media is much more instant these days and it comes in many forms. It’s not as controllable as it used to be.

At the last IFA meeting I attended a number of years ago, a staff member told those present that there was no money in drystock and there never would be. This is a sector that contributed almost €2.75bn to the Irish economy in 2014, not far behind dairy. Yet the more positive side of the story is never heard.

Price may be important at farm level in the short term but land abandonment and lack of youth entering the sector is a far bigger problem that overemphasis on negativity could cause.

I met with someone involved in driving change within a relatively conservative amateur organisation. I wanted to see if there was anything I could get from him that would be applicable to the beef sector. He told me that it would be more difficult to get a commercial sector to move as fast as a voluntary one.

When I asked why, he said it was because when money is involved the potential for corruption is never far behind it.

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