IFA members in Cavan last week got the answer to the €1m question: what would happen if the IFA’s coffers ran dry?

IFA’s director general Damian McDonald said that while the association’s accounts are healthy due to strong fee-paying membership numbers: “if we ran out of money in the morning and we went into the Department of Agriculture and we said we need €1m to keep the lights on, I bet you every penny, Francie would have the cheque going out the door”.

But he stressed the IFA must remain independently funded by its members. “Because they (Government) know we’d be a different organisation to deal with once we got into a scenario where we were seeking Government funding.”

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