Some 42% of farmers believe the Minister for Agriculture has been ‘poor’ at dealing with current farming issues.

The data comes from an Irish Farmers Journal survey of 1,037 farmers conducted between 30 October and 3 November.

Of the negative responses to Minister Charlie McConalogue’s performance, 13% described his work as ‘very poor’.

Meanwhile, only 27% described it positively and 31% of respondents were indifferent.

Dairy farmers believed they were worst represented by the minister, with 17% of them describing his performance as ‘very poor’. Tillage farmers also felt they were poorly affected by Minister McConalogue’s performance, with 48% responding negatively compared to only 19% responding positively. His handling of the straw scheme is likely to have played a role in this response.

A total of 49% of farmers based in Munster described the minister’s performance as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, compared to 23% who gave him a positive rating.

Most farmers between the ages of 36 and 45 rated his performance as poor. However, more farmers over the age of 60 said he has performed well, at 36%.