The IFA national council is to commence an intense lobbying campaign of public representatives while they are back in their constituencies while the Oireachtas is not sitting for Easter break.

IFA president Francie Gorman said that there was a lot of frustration at the council meeting with a widely held view that the Government was not living up to election promises and commitments in its own Programme for Government.

“There is real anger with ACRES payment delays, the imposition of GAEC 2, the failure to act on the TB crisis and the Government’s apparent softening of their position on the Mercosur deal,” Francie Gorman said.

“The importance of securing a workable nitrates derogation is also a pressing issue for farmers,” he said.

Five issues

The document covers the five issues mentioned above ACRES, GAEC 2, TB, Mercosur and the Nitrates Derogation.

IFA county executives in each county will be contacting their politicians this week to meet with them on these issues.