The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has organised four regional meetings to give farmers the opportunity to hear from candidates running in the upcoming European Parliament elections.
Ireland, which now have 14 seats in total in the parliament, has three constituencies: Ireland South, Midlands-North West and Dublin.
The 2024 European elections will be held on June 7 in Ireland and will coincide with the local elections.
Meetings
The IFA said that the first meeting for candidates running in the five-seat Ireland South constituency will take place in Cork Marts in Fermoy on Tuesday, April 30.
This will be followed by a meeting in the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris, Co. Mayo on Thursday, May 2 for the Midlands-North West constituency, which will also elect five MEPs.
There will be a second meeting for Ireland South candidates at Gowran Park, Co. Kilkenny on Tuesday, May 7.
The final meeting will return to the Midlands-North West in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar on Wednesday, May 8.
Farmer concerns
Ahead of the European and local elections, IFA has highlighted nine key farming issues for candidates.
The four key European priorities, under the acronym of CORE, are: the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); over-regulation; retaining the nitrates derogation and environmental fairness.
There are five areas, known as PLACE, highlighted for those running in the local elections: planning, Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), ash dieback on local roads, connectivity and local authority inspections.
Launching the manifesto, IFA president Francie Gorman emphasised the need for candidates to support farmers.
“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.
Gorman said that the manifesto contains hundreds of issues across all commodities.
“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.
“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.