IFA chief says Yes camp is gaining strength

FARMERS: IRISH FARMERS’ Association president Pádraig Walshe yesterday said he would be able to increase the farming sector’…

FARMERS:IRISH FARMERS' Association president Pádraig Walshe yesterday said he would be able to increase the farming sector's Yes vote "substantially" following his organisation's recommendation to farmers on Tuesday to back the Lisbon Treaty.

He told the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs that since that decision, the IFA’s internal polls had shown a doubling of the Yes vote among farmers.

“A week ago we polled our members, a substantial number of them, by text and this showed 19 per cent Yes, 42 per cent No and 39 per cent undecided,” he said.

“Over last night and this morning we conducted another poll of over 1,000 of our members and there was a very substantial reply,” he said.

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“The Yes vote has almost doubled to 37 per cent, No is down 25 per cent from 42 to 34 and the undecided has dropped from 39 to 29,” he said.

However, the general secretary of the organisation, Michael Berkery, warned the committee that the IFA could “lead but not command”.

He had rejected criticism from some of the committee that the IFA had left the decision to recommend a Yes vote very late.

“I have to say that the timing of our decision was not of our making and it was not in our hands,” said Mr Berkery.

Mr Walshe, who had outlined to the committee his organisation’s fears about what was happening in World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, was asked by all 12 speakers at the meeting what his organisation intended to do to promote a Yes vote.

The Fianna Fáil members, who persisted with their contention that the Government had been consistent in its attitude to WTO, asked if the IFA was going to spend the same money on posters and publicity promoting a Yes vote as it had on its anti-WTO talks campaign. Labour TD Joe Costello asked if it was possible to bring 10,000 to 15,000 people on to the streets before the vote and Mary O’Rourke TD (FF) said she would like to see a rally as “visually expressive” as the last one.

A number of the speakers suggested it might be too late to reverse the way the farming vote had been going and Senator Terry Leyden (FF) said it might be too early for the IFA to celebrate its decision.

Senator Deirdre de Burca (Green) said the IFA had chosen a “high-risk strategy” and Seymour Crawford TD (FG) said there was still a major hurdle to cross.

He and Mrs O’Rourke criticised the No campaigners and accused them of using “unbelievable tactics” and telling deliberate untruths.

Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris said although it looked like he was in a minority of one on the committee in not welcoming the IFA’s change of mind, he said the IFA was entitled to do so as a democratic organisation.

The chairman of the committee, Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan, welcomed the decision of the IFA to recommend a Yes vote and the clarification that had been issued that there could be a veto used against the WTO.

He hit out at the “faceless” No campaigners who were misleading voters and even using items such as the 1916 Proclamation in their campaigns.

“I am not talking about Sinn Féin here because they put their name to anything they say but there are others who do not,” he said.

He added that the time had come to look again at the McKenna judgement, which meant equal broadcasting time had to be given to both arguments, despite their numerical support.