Farmers ‘not happy’ with mainstream parties, representative says

The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, Pat McCormack, has said that any support for a farming political party would not be anti-Green but would be antigovernment. Mr McCormack was responding to new research from The Irish Farmers Journal that showed three out of four farmers would support a new farmers’ political party if one were to emerge.

When asked would farmers vote for Sinn Féin as a protest against the Government, Mr McCormack told Newstalk Breakfast that there was concern among farmers about Sinn Féin’s policies.

He stressed there was no anti-Green agenda among farmers. “I believe farmers and agriculture is on a pathway to meeting its emission targets of 25 per cent reduction. But there is a degree of frustration out there amongst families and rural dwellers about the anti-rural agenda because it is an anti-rural agenda.”

Mr McCormack said the aviation sector was a significant contributor to emissions, but there was not the same level of “finger pointing” as there was against farming.

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Farmers are not having conversations among themselves about a new political party, he said, particularly with a general election still 12 to 18 months away.

Traditionally Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael TDs would have represented rural families, he said, but farmers are not happy with either of the parties. There had been very little interaction with farmers by politicians other than from Independent TDs, he said.