Upcoming elections an opportunity to tackle over- regulation and low incomes

Ahead of the European and local elections in June, the Irish Farmers’ Association has highlighted nine key issues for candidates if they want to win the farming vote.

“It is time for the political system to stand up for farming and food production. As farmers, we are proud of what we do and how we do it. Farmers are sick of being over-regulated and underpaid. Enough is enough,” he said.

Launching the Manifesto for the European Parliament and local government elections on June 7th, IFA President Francie Gorman said it has identified nine issues using the acronym CORE for the four key European priorities and PLACE for the five top local election issues.

“There are hundreds of issues dealt with in our manifesto across all commodities. However, we have distilled the issues down to nine key messages,” he said.

The CORE EU issues are: CAP, Over Regulation, Retain the Nitrates Derogation and Environmental fairness.

The PLACE local elections issues are: Planning, Land Tax on Zoned Residential land, Ash dieback on local roads, Connectivity and Environmental inspections by local authorities.

“Farmers are frustrated with how they have been treated by the political system in recent years. There has been a complete focus on environmental sustainability, but insufficient consideration for economic and social sustainability,” he said.

“Candidates who want an understanding of what matters to farmers can find our issues in the manifesto that we have produced. It reflects the discussions that happen at our County Executives, our National Committees and National Council, which is made up of our democratically-elected farmer officers,” he said.

IFA will be holding four regional meetings in April and May, which will give farmers the opportunity to hear from the candidates running in the European Parliament elections.

The meeting for the Midlands-North West Constituency will be held in the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris on Thursday, May 2nd and the second meeting for Midlands-North West will be held in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar on Wednesday, May 8th.