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The IFA may once, with the GAA, the church and Fianna Fáil have been one of the four pillars of Irish public life, but even before last year’s CRC-style pay and remuneration debacles, the era where ministers would come running even before the organisation whistled had been consigned to the political page reserved for nostalgia.
However, in a country that still essentially has a rural soul, the race for the presidency of the IFA is not a minor one. And, given the challenges faced by an organisation embedded in every rural townland, this is no ordinary election.
This is evidenced by the fact that after 26 hustings which have seen the candidates being prodded in the manner of yearlings being paraded around the ring of a suspicious mart, no one knows who will win.
The down-to-the-wire status of this election added real importance to the Irish Farmers Journal presidential debate which took place last Friday.
With votes already being cast in real time, one moment of brilliance or madness could swing the result definitively.
In truth, the candidates – Laois-based drystock farmer and IFA livestock chair Henry Burns, Kerry-based rural development chair Flor McCarthy, and Galway dairy farmer Joe Healy – are too experienced for own goals.
However, as they endured sharp questioning from moderator Justin McCarthy in a debate which resembled one of those American presidential primaries, intriguing differences in style emerged.
Henry Burns is the “safe pair of hands” who believes knowledge and experience will calm the IFA’s troubled seas. He is all about the facts and the figures, but as he cited his 10-year role in the European Beef Dialogue Group, we were left to wonder how attracted voters will be to a policy of incremental reform.
By contrast, Joe Healy, despite being older than Burns, with his carefully sculpted hair and rangy tie-free good looks, is “the kid” who is promising to create trouble at every opportunity.
Joe has a lean and hungry look and an eye for snazzy lines such as: “Retailers have called Ireland ‘treasure Ireland’ because they don’t have to release details of their profits.”
However, with those hooded eyes and a style which is as taciturn as a professional gambler in one of those wild western saloons, Flor McCarthy looks to be the “wildcard” of the election who could be kingmaker or king.
He may not be as polished as the kid or as experienced as the safe pair of hands, but a wise man would not be at all enthusiastic to play political cards with this canny operator.
Like Healy, at the debate our wildcard promoted the concept of a more assertive IFA that would “get into the boardrooms of the farmers’ current masters and assert the rights of members”.
Flor was also anxious when it came to beef to “challenge the cartel ... we can see them in the rich list but we can’t see their margins”.
In the debate it was clear the candidates understood farming is in crisis as dairy farmers deal as anonymous commodity traders and beef fatteners fight what is perceived to be a cosy cartel.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case in Irish politics, none of the candidates appear to have charted a clear path out of the crisis.
And no one landed a killer choke-hold in the debate either, though Joe the kid Healy stumbled badly as he talked about his close contacts in Europe with Phil Hogan and Mairead McGuinness and the role of the latter as his mentor.
It had a bit of a Fine Gael hue, and FG is a little out of favour at the moment.
Throughout the debate, the elephant in the room was the IFA’s uneasy recent past. And, sadly, when the issue was addressed, the responses were less than compelling.
Flor wildcard McCarthy noted that “most farmers want to see the IFA back working; get it working for farmers”, and there it ended.
Henry Burns, the safe pair of hands, suffered somewhat as his claim that “we have nothing to hide” was slightly compromised by the subsequent admission that “for the membership the lack of openness was most disappointing”.
Radical
Joe the kid took the most radical position, pledging that if it took a look back to before 2009 to keep the members happy, so be it.
However, even Joe had to be poked strongly to get that far, and the candidates all seemed to be anxious to put the elephant hastily into the debating equivalent of the boot of a car.
This lacuna was unfortunate because the battle with market forces which are as ruthless as vulture funds means it is critical the IFA reclaims its status as a movement that is more closely interwoven with the people than your average lobby group.
For that to occur, though, the elephant of pay and perks must be addressed rather than evaded.
In the wake of the debate, it was clear the most astute politician and the man who will most assuredly secure the highest media profile as president was Joe the kid Healy.
The dark horse with a hint of bladed steel in the sleeve was the wild card from Kerry, while Henry the safe pair of hands Burns traded on the uncertain variable of leadership with listening.
Now that the talking is almost over, the message from the Irish Farmers Journal debate is that the winner may yet be the candidate who displays the greatest capacity to heal the wounded morale of the membership.
Sadly, on that issue, the result of last week’s debate was a no-score draw.
*John Drennan is a former political correspondent with the Sunday Independent and is a political analyst.
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