Ahead of the European and local elections in June, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has highlighted nine key issues for candidates if they want to win the farming vote.

“It is time for the political system to stand up for farming and food production. As farmers, we are proud of what we do and how we do it. Farmers are sick of being over-regulated and underpaid. Enough is enough,” IFA president Francie Gorman said.

Launching the manifesto for the European Parliament and local government elections on 7 June, the organisation has identified nine issues using the acronym CORE for the four key European priorities and PLACE for the five top local election issues.

Key issues

The CORE EU issues are: CAP, over regulation, retain the nitrates derogation and environmental fairness.

The PLACE local elections issues are: planning, land tax on zoned residential land, ash dieback on local roads, connectivity and environmental inspections by local authorities.

Frustration

“Farmers are frustrated with how they have been treated by the political system in recent years. There has been a complete focus on environmental sustainability, but insufficient consideration for economic and social sustainability,” Gorman said.

He said that the manifesto “reflects the discussions that happen at our county executives, our national committees and national council, which is made up of our democratically-elected farmer officers”.

Meetings

The IFA will be holding four regional meetings in April and May, which will give farmers the opportunity to hear from the candidates running in the European Parliament elections.

The south constituency meetings will take place on Tuesday 30 April in Cork Marts in Fermoy and Tuesday 7 May in Gowran Park racecourse in Kilkenny.

The midlands-north-west constituency meetings will take place on Thursday 2 May in McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris, Co Mayo, and the second meeting will take place in the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar on Wednesday 8 May. All meetings will start at 8pm.