Stapleton calls on farmers to get behind IFA
Former IFA presidential candidate Martin Stapleton received a standing ovation from Limerick farmers after he spoke at the County IFA Annual General Meeting in Adare last week.
He described eight years of involvement with IFA at national level as having been “hugely rewarding”, enabling him to help his fellow farmers, and urged farmer support to help strengthen the organisation.
“Losing is disappointing and after so much effort, it is hard to take. But two months on, it has to be looked at and put in a new perspective” he told the meeting at the Woodlands House Hotel.
“It was an extraordinary experience to have so many people involved with me in trying to get the job. I would love to have been able to serve them as leader, but there are other things in life too and I am looking forward to becoming involved in some of those.”
He said that the IFA election process is a very democratic system which has to be respected and it is “absolutely crucial that we respect the democracy of the outcome and show our respect to the new president, Francie Gorman, for the next four years and the other officers elected on the day”.
Strength
“We really do need to appreciate the organisation that we have built up over the past 60 years and to maintain that strength is really important to deal with the problems that we are all going to face in the years ahead
“When you have problems on your own farm, you then realise how important it is to have a strong organisation to represent you. In my mind, it is absolutely crucial.
“I would implore of you that we focus on what has made IFA so strong over the years.
“I would say — not financially in case anyone has any doubt about that because I would say for everyone that gets involved, it cost us money — but for me, it has been my hobby for the last eight years and it has been what I have done with my spare time and more than my spare time.
“And I couldn’t even attempt to quantify the job support and satisfaction that I got from the ability to have been able to help my fellow farmers for that [sic] eight years — it is something that I will be forever grateful to IFA for.