IFA president: Politicians out of touch with the mood of rural Ireland Francie Gorman was in Sligo on Tuesday for Sligo IFA branch’s AGM
THE recently elected president of the Irish Farmers Association Francie Gorman has told the Sligo Weekender he believes national political leaders and politicians generally are “out of touch” with the “mood” and feelings of people living in rural Ireland.
Explaining his view, he said the empathic ‘No’ results from last week’s referendums, while not farm specific, underlined the disconnect between all the main parties and the people.
Mr Gorman made his comments on Tuesday evening before he spoke to Sligo IFA members at their annual general meeting in Sligo.
Asked for his specific thoughts on the performance of Environment Minister Eamonn Ryan by this newspaper, Mr Gorman told the Weekender: “I think politicians in general are out of touch with the feelings of rural Ireland.
“The results from both referendums at the weekend showed that they are out of touch with the mood of the ordinary people of Ireland in general.
“A lot of people, whether in farming, or in business in general, feel they are being regulated to within an inch of their life, being told how to live their lives.
“I think that came home to roost at the weekend. It’s been there at farm level for a number of years that people are at breaking point in relation to schemes, how schemes are being devised and administered at farm level. It’s not working for farmers and that’s why we have people on the streets farming.
“You don’t just tell farmers to go to the streets willy nilly, it’s a big issue when farmers make the decision to protest and it’s coming out of sheer frustration and that’s why you had protests last week outside a meeting of Sligo County Council and elsewhere in the country, farmer are at breaking point and need Government to listen.”
He agreed that in Sligo the difficulties people were experiencing getting permission to build homes on family-owned land/farms is a major concern, adding the issue was national as well as local, but had been raised with him while in Sligo.
He said one of the biggest issues he has come across during his campaign to get elected president of the IFA was in relation to planning permission for farm families to build homes on their own land.
“I’m aware of many examples where sons and daughters who want to stay on the land in their own areas have found it nigh impossible to get permission to build on family-owned land.
“That issue needs to be addressed through the County Development Plans of each county and in Sligo’s case that’s very timely as the next County Development Plan is being processed at the moment.
He also raised the issue of the TII, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, not allowing access out onto ‘N’ roads which denies young people the chance to build homes in rural areas.
“If we don’t have young people being allowed to build homes in rural areas we are not going to have young farmers coming through, I suppose that’s about succession. If you don’t have the young farmers working and living on the land because they can’t build a home on it, then you have multiple other problems such as dwindling numbers at rural schools, and I’m aware of examples of that in west Sligo in particular.
“You also have huge impacts on your sports clubs, your rural pub, your churches, attendances falling there because people are no longer living in the area, that’s a huge issue.”
A married man, with a nine-year-old son, Tom, he was asked would he like to see his son become a farmer, did he believe there is a future for young men and women in farming?
He replied: “Absolutely. If he wants to be. I’d encourage him all ends up, but that’s down the road for him and it will be his decision, but I believe there is a future in farming for our young people, but we need to ensure they get the supports they need from Government here and from Europe.
“We have managed to make a living at home.
“I think our son Tom, if he wants to farm full-time or partime, will find a way to do it. I would encourage him to do it, but he has his own choices to make in years to come!
“We come from a modest enough farm in the south east. Perhaps by standards in the west of Ireland it may not be regarded as ‘modest’ but down our side if you are farming full-time it is modest enough.
“It is hard work, small margins at times, but you build an asset up. If you can stay farming throughout your life you can build up a valuable asset, but what use is it if you can’t cash it in?”
He said the big issue at the moment for farmers was escalating costs for feed/fertiliser and energy.
He said apart from endless regulations being imposed on farmers, costs had tripled and were making it very difficult for farmers to make a living: “The cost of farming has gone through the roof, input costs in particular in the last two or three years. It has settled down a little bit but it's nowhere near where it should be. While the war in Ukraine had a major impact, more recently the closing off of the Red Sea means that imports coming from the Middle East and Australia now have to come around the Horn of Africa which has tripled the cost of shipping goods around the world.”
He said that IFA were keenly aware that farmers, due to costs, were making to decisions to use less fertiliser on their land: “That’s common to the whole sector, here in the northwest and countrywide, particularly in the drystock sector and I believe west of the Shannon where you have predominantly drystock it is a huge issue.”
Commenting on the IFA’s relationship with Minister Charlie McConalogue, he said he would describe that relationship as “good enough”.
He added: “The problem in delivery for us as farmers rests with the minister, but also with senior civil servants working underneath him, so it is a combination of both, but they haven’t engaged with us enough on how to formulate schemes to make sure those schemes at farm level work.
“Europe and the Irish Government haven’t put enough investment in to support the various farm schemes that we depend on to allow us to produce food at affordable levels for consumers.
“We are asked to deliver ‘environmental ambition’ out of that money that would have been put into our pockets to produce that affordable food.”
Meanwhile, last night’s AGM of Sligo IFA in the Sligo Park Hotel was also attended by Theresa Roche, IFA’s National Farm Family Chairperson and Brendan Golden, Connacht Regional Chairperson.
Sligo IFA officers were returned unopposed for 2024 as follows: President, Pauric Marren; Vice President, Gerry Gallagher; Chairperson, Michael O’Dowd; Vice Chairperson, Bernie Finan; Secretary, Sinead Branley; Assistant Secretary, Kathleen Henry (Snr); Treasurer, Seamus Cummins; PRO, Kathleen Henry (Jnr).