Parlon keeping his best foot forward despite ongoing crises on the farms

For a man in the eye of the foot-and-mouth storm, Tom Parlon is remarkably composed, even relaxed, as he has his coffee and scones - yes, that's a farmer's breakfast these days - in the bar in Jurys hotel in Dublin.

He's had to stay in the city overnight, a frequent occurrence since the scare started at the end of February, this time because a meeting in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development that went on until after 11 p.m. And then there were the calls on his mobile phone that had to be returned - that can take up to two hours, he says.

The six-hour Department meeting was on the vexed question of tagging sheep, so that their movement can be traced precisely all through their lives. The Department wants each animal to be numbered separately; the IFA, he emphasises, is in favour of tagging, but is worried that the system will be too bureaucratic and unreliable because of tag losses.

"We accept fully in the light of what's happened the need for traceability. The danger is genuine people will be crucified with red tape and bureaucracy and other people will find a way around it."

Not that Mr Parlon is critical of the Department officials. "These senior guys are working around the clock. A lot of farmers thought civil servants went home at five o'clock in the evening," he says; he knows some have been working nearly 40 days in a row now.

Not so long ago, farmers were not held in the highest esteem by other sectors and the feeling might have been mutual. But what has turned into a national emergency has, he believes, changed all that.

"The level of public support for farmers in the whole foot-and-mouth crisis has been astonishing. It has lifted my soul . . . civil servants, the general public. There is more of an appreciation now, regardless of the debate as to whether agribusiness is worth it. "I think you'll find a better appreciation by farmers of the general public and, on the other side, you'll find city and business people might have a much better appreciation of agriculture in the future when it's all linked together. We may find a better society," he thinks.

He was especially surprised at Dublin port last week. "The impression farmers would have is dockers are hard-nosed Dubs with not much sympathy for farmers. The support they have shown in terms of putting in disinfection facilities and making sure they are carried out is heartening."

Tom Parlon's working day is rarely less than 18 hours. This week, it has been meeting with Government ministers and officials, with banks and with farmers in the Cooley peninsula. "A lot of it is media stuff: Morning Ireland, Prime Time, Questions and Answers, a lot of foreign media, local radios and my own vice-presidents around the country, who all want the latest update.

"With a mobile phone, it's ringing from seven o'clock onwards. Everybody has my phone number. It just rings, rings, rings. A phone intensifies the pressure, but in terms of getting the job done, you're always available." He admits to doing radio interviews as he is driving around the country, driving on "autopilot", as he puts it. He has no driver.

He knows many of the sheep farmers of the area personally. "Farmers have been almost crying. I have come across a number of farmers' wives who go to bed at night, praying and crying. There was a lot of tension when the Minister went up to meet them. People wanted to know their fate. The Minister wants to make the best decisions possible. When those decisions impinge on your livelihood, it's different."

It's a most exciting time of the year on a sheep farm, he says, with young lambs in the fields and the grass growing, but not in Co Louth. "That is why I almost break down. After all the feeding and hassle during the winter, just when you are going to lamb, they are taken away from you. Instead of walking out into a field and seeing all those lambs. . ."

He believes the compensation, at market value, for animals slaughtered, is "fair". The cheques should arrive within two weeks of slaughter. But he has been in talks with all the major banks this week about the future for the farmers who lose all their livestock.

The cheques should be lodged in a special account and not used for living expenses. "Indications from the banks are very positive. They may make a gesture in terms of preferential interest on the cheques and we want to ensure banks aren't trying to clear borrowings with the cheque," he explains.

"People should realise the importance of keeping that cheque for restocking. There will be life after foot-and-mouth disease and we want a situation down the road, four or five months, where they will be able to look at that valuation cheque."

Meanwhile, the situation in Britain deteriorates. "It's literally a time-bomb within 50 miles of us. We're very much in the firing line in terms of trade, travel. That is going to have to be watched very carefully."

And he says he is co-operating very closely with the Ulster Farmers' Union president to evaluate the future of agriculture on the island of Ireland.

He has sympathy for people in the tourism business who are suffering because of the crisis and who point to the fact that farmers are being compensated.

But he adds: "While hotels are losing, nobody is closing down the hotels or decommissioning the rooms. It's a little bit of an unfair comparison. I can see why they would want to make it. We haven't made an issue of that yet."

His mission as president of the IFA has been to get rid of the urban-rural divide and to strike a balance between projecting a softer image of farmers and being tough enough in representing them.

"I think it has resulted in a better appreciation of the farmers' case. Whether in the National Development Plan or the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, I think we've got a fair deal and a fair hearing from the Government, probably because the public see farmers as more deserving of support now."

Mr Parlon finishes his stint as president in January. "Sometimes I get a bit of a shudder when people remind me that this time next year I won't be `anybody'. It's certainly going to be a shock to the system. There is a big responsibility being president; on the other hand, it's a major honour."

And is he going to tread that path so often trod by his predecessors to the European Parliament? "I would far prefer to go home to lambing any day than going to Brussels. It's certainly far from being my burning ambition to be an MEP," he says. And come tonight he expects to be back in the lambing sheds, to give his wife, Martha, and son, Fergal, who have been running the lambing all week, a well-deserved break.