Farmer Writes: We cannot call for transparency without showing it ourselves

I have served as national environment chair of the IFA for nearly four years now. There are several issues to finalise, not least to pursue an acceptable outcome for agriculture and food production in the COP21 climate discussions in Paris in two weeks’ time.

Last Thursday morning I had a meeting with Minister Simon Coveney on this and various other environmental issues. The IFA delegation was led as usual by the president and the general secretary. We had a cordial and productive exchange across the table. Afterwards we parted to head to separate appointments in Dublin city.

I arrived home in West Cork to discover Pat Smith had resigned while I was travelling. Tension has been building for a while in the Farm Centre.

There were various stories floating in the media, none of which were telling the whole story. The problem is that when the public get a whiff of a potential scandal then it can get out of hand very quickly.

Internal politics

I took on my role as I wanted to have an influence on Irish and European environmental policy. However, as someone elected to office in an organisation the size of the IFA, I went in with my eyes open that internal politics would be a feature. I was well trained by Macra even though I hadn’t held any national officership.

As an officer I need to be respected both by those I represent and those I am negotiating with. I was beginning to find it difficult to operate with the rumours and as a National Council it was vital to get the facts, which is what happened on Friday.

I have been reading and listening to commentaries from various “experts”. The anti-IFA and anti-farmer gang are having a field day gloating and that hurts. What hurts more though are the phone calls and comments from members. They and I have been let down by the organisation. As a member myself I expect my issues to get priority and my membership fee to be properly spent.

So how do we in IFA deal with this? Our motto is “Unity, Strength, Delivery”. I know that showing unity will be taken by detractors that we are hiding something. I believe that we cannot afford to hide anything. As an organisation we cannot call for transparency without showing it ourselves.

Future

The pay and conditions of all future general secretaries will now be published with the annual accounts. I believe we need to move on quickly. There are two jobs of work in hand. Firstly the bread and butter work of IFA must continue.

I have to be in Kildare for some media work on COP21 on Monday afternoon, and Tuesday starts in Dublin with the first meeting at 9am and finishes with a Branch AGM in Co Waterford that night.

Secondly, we as a National Council need to put in place the systems and structures to make sure anything like this can never happen again. We are a voluntary organisation that employs a range of staff to advise and assist the officership. We all work together to serve the membership, but the buck (in many ways) stops with the elected officers. Therefore the control must always be with the elected officers.

I tweeted on Thursday night that it was a time for “cool heads”. The head that needed to roll has rolled. The rest of us need to get on with it.