The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has decided not to reschedule the presidential and deputy presidential candidate hustings in Co. Kerry.
In a statement to Agriland, IFA National Returning Officer Brian Rushe said that “everyone is disappointed that the meeting is not going ahead”.
“However, based on last week’s Munster chair candidates meeting in Kerry, and previous Kerry IFA meetings, it is likely that the meeting would be disrupted and that personal remarks will be made about other people from the floor.
“There is no place in IFA for this and we are not going to provide a platform for that kind of behaviour,” he said.
“There are a number of complaints relating to Kerry IFA which are being dealt with by the Rules Committee. I won’t be making any further comment until these are dealt with,” Rushe added.
Kerry
Earlier this month, the IFA announced that the election debate which had been due to take place on October 9 in Kerry would not go ahead as planned.
Brian Rushe informed members that the decision not to proceed with the scheduled debate was in light of an email “purporting to be from Kerry IFA” sent on October 6.
He said the email “was not issued by Kerry IFA” and “contains a number of inaccurate and potentially defamatory statements” and has been “forwarded to gardaí”.
It is understood that the email alleged that IFA presidential election candidate Martin Stapleton had failed to deal with complaints while he was chair of the association’s rules and privileges committee.
Stapleton has strongly rejected this allegation and said the complaints were addressed in the appropriate manner.
Hustings
Stapleton, who is the current IFA National Treasurer, told Agriland that it is “a matter of great disappointment” to him that the hustings will not go ahead in Kerry.
“All members of the association like to get the opportunity to listen to the candidates in the election races debating all the issues, and getting an opportunity to decide which candidate they feel is best capable of dealing with issues that are going to arise during the term of president.
“From my point of view, I realised as a candidate I don’t get to make rules,” the Limerick dairy farmer said.
“I think it’s important, given feedback I’ve got, to make the point that I didn’t have any part to play in the decision to cancel the last day, nor have I any role in deciding whether or not these hustings could be rescheduled.
“It seems to me that as I continue to canvass, and my team continue to canvass Kerry, that we’re getting good support from people who would like to see Kerry IFA return to normal.
“As the ballot papers come out I’ll continue to seek that support and look forward to a very favourable outcome from Kerry in the election,” Stapleton said.
IFA presidential candidate Francie Gorman has also expressed his disappointment that the hustings will not take place in Kerry.
In a social media post, Gorman, who is the current IFA South Leinster chair, said that he had been waiting to share his ideas with farmers in the county.
The beef, suckler and sheep farmer from Co. Laois added that “Kerry farmers are entitled to receive the opportunity to question candidates”.
Gorman added that he will be visiting Kerry to meet with IFA members later this week.
“I put my name forward to be president of IFA expecting that I would get a chance to address farmers in every county.
“To me it’s a bad look that we are not having a debate in the second biggest [IFA} executive in the country,” Gorman told Agriland.
“What you hear continually is that people say we’re losing touch with the organisation on the ground and this is an example of that, if you ask me.
“I know there’s difficulties down there, and the only way they’re going to be sorted is by working our way through it.
“We needed to have been a lot more proactive in how we dealt with this issue from the word go and we weren’t,” he added.
IFA elections
The final scheduled hustings in the presidential and deputy presidential elections took place last night (Monday, October 30) in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Two candidates will contest the deputy presidency of IFA: Alice Doyle from Wexford and Pat Murphy from Galway.
For the first time, IFA members will receive their ballot paper in the post. They can choose to either return it by post or cast their ballot at their branch AGM which are due to commence from next Monday (November 6).
The IFA election count will take place on Tuesday, December 12.