Usually the Minister for Agriculture has to contend with a handful of parliamentary questions in the Dáil from other TDs looking to see about the status of constituent’s farm scheme payments on any given week.

However last week, TDs from all over the country bombarded the Minister with questions from local farmers looking to see when the cheque is coming. There were dozens of requests being made of the Minister. I’m not being cynical, but in the week when the country goes to the polls for European and local elections I think politicians might have been doing their best to secure the strong ‘farming vote’ for their party.