A Co. Mayo farmer has been selected as a Fine Gael candidate for the Belmullet electoral area in the 2024 local elections.
Pat Chambers, a sheep and suckler farmer, said his aims for running in the local elections are to stand for the local farming community, as he said he will be “fighting for the area”.
Chambers is the hill representative for the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) in Co. Mayo, but said he will be “sad” to leave the committee in order to run in the local elections, but added his IFA membership would continue.
“I was involved in the sheep committee first for six years and I’m three years now in the hill committee.
“I’ve made lots of friends and lifelong friendships down through the years with IFA members right across the country, from Donegal to Kerry,” he added.
Still an active farmer, Chambers said he will “still be farming away” during his campaign in the local elections, and will continue to manage his 170 Mayo Blackface ewes and 30 suckler cows.
Chambers is a member of the Mayo Blackface Group, which has rebranded as Ólas Hill Farms, and has also been the coordinator of since its beginning in 2004, and the chairman of since February.
Chambers told Agriland he recently led a delegation to meet the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue in Co. Donegal to discuss farm payments on Achill Island that were negatively impacted by burned land area.
“I like to get things done done and not to have them lying around,” he added.
A further issue that Chambers will tackle in Co. Mayo is the effect of nature restoration on farmers in the area, with the Belmullet farmer saying he would “keep the issues of farmers highlighted in the council”.
Chambers said: “One thing about me…my wife Liz can verify this, I always have a phone beside me.
“Seven days of the week, I answer my phone. No farmer was ever let down by me.
Chambers son, Patrick, has started up farming, as well as teaching in Dublin, while his daughter Maggie is studying sports and journalism, and is also in the process of completing her green cert.
In a social media post, Mayo Fine Gael offered “a hearty welcome to Pat Chambers who will run alongside sitting councillor Gerry Coyle in the Belmullet LEA (local electoral area) in next year’s local elections”.