Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman has put water between the position of the association and its nine former leaders who put their names to a letter endorsing Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys in the presidential election.
No fewer than nine former association presidents signed an open letter endorsing a vote for Heather Humphreys in the final week of the race.
The letter was signed by Donie Cashman, Tom Clinton, John Donnelly, Tom Parlon, John Dillon, John Bryan, Eddie Downey, Joe Healy and Tim Cullinan.
It prompted Gorman to release a statement indicating that these nine former leaders do not speak for the IFA and that the IFA does not support any candidates in any elections.
However, the current IFA president added that former leaders are free to endorse candidates or run themselves in any election they choose after the end of their tenure with the association.
Non-political
“[The] IFA is a strictly non-political organisation as set out in our constitution,” he commented.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, who is acting as Fine Gael’s director of elections for the presidential campaign, heralded the ex-IFA leaders’ backing as a “momentous show of trust from some of rural Ireland’s most prominent farming voices”.
Gorman also urged farm families to cast their ballots on Friday, but not to spoil them.
“They should cast their vote on polling day and vote for the candidate of their choosing,” he said.
“I do not believe that any purpose is served by spoiling your vote or voting for someone who has withdrawn from the election.”
Read more
Presidential ambitions from a rural perspective
Opinion: Humphreys' route to presidency is a country road
Former IFA presidents in to bat for Humphreys
Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman has put water between the position of the association and its nine former leaders who put their names to a letter endorsing Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys in the presidential election.
No fewer than nine former association presidents signed an open letter endorsing a vote for Heather Humphreys in the final week of the race.
The letter was signed by Donie Cashman, Tom Clinton, John Donnelly, Tom Parlon, John Dillon, John Bryan, Eddie Downey, Joe Healy and Tim Cullinan.
It prompted Gorman to release a statement indicating that these nine former leaders do not speak for the IFA and that the IFA does not support any candidates in any elections.
However, the current IFA president added that former leaders are free to endorse candidates or run themselves in any election they choose after the end of their tenure with the association.
Non-political
“[The] IFA is a strictly non-political organisation as set out in our constitution,” he commented.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, who is acting as Fine Gael’s director of elections for the presidential campaign, heralded the ex-IFA leaders’ backing as a “momentous show of trust from some of rural Ireland’s most prominent farming voices”.
Gorman also urged farm families to cast their ballots on Friday, but not to spoil them.
“They should cast their vote on polling day and vote for the candidate of their choosing,” he said.
“I do not believe that any purpose is served by spoiling your vote or voting for someone who has withdrawn from the election.”
Read more
Presidential ambitions from a rural perspective
Opinion: Humphreys' route to presidency is a country road
Former IFA presidents in to bat for Humphreys
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