Silke enters IFA presidential race

Michael Silke has entered the race to become IFA president. The Galwayman confirmed his candidacy to the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday afternoon.

Silke feels that IFA grassroots members have lost faith and trust in the organisation’s leadership, and that a new president with credibility on the ground is badly needed, and soon. “We are haemorrhaging support, we need to bring the grassroots back and let them have their say as they always did in the past,” he said. “IFA should always determine policy from the bottom-up, not the top-down.”

The regeneration of IFA will sit alongside commodity prices as the prime focus of his campaign.

Michael Silke was Galway chair from 2002 to 2005. He was then elected Connacht vice-president in serving for the next four years in that capacity. He then chaired the flood project team from 2010 to 2013, so is experienced at the higher levels of the organisation.

He said he has been frustrated in recent years. “I was unhappy with the redistribution of the Rural Development Fund, and I’ve made that clear.” Silke certainly fulfils calls for a candidate from outside the current leadership ranks of the IFA.

Nominations have opened for the election of a president, with a closing date of 6 January 2016. Candidates need nominations from six counties, including their own executive, meaning a maximum of four candidates can enter.

Tim O’Leary has declared that he will contest the presidency. The acting president has some motions of no confidence against him and other senior members of IFA. The first of these may be heard next Tuesday. In all, 11 counties have passed motions of resignations of one form or another at this point. Sixteen are calling for the Con Lucey report to be delivered before any further action is considered.

Derek Deane is being widely spoken of as a potential candidate. Speaking on Wednesday, he said he would not, and could not, finalise his position until a clear timeframe for the election was confirmed. He said that he hoped some clarity would emerge at next week’s executive board meeting.

Henry Burns is also expected to run, particularly since Jer Bergin confirmed at the weekend that he will not be a candidate. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday, Burns said that he will first announce any decision he makes to his local Laois executive. It is scheduled to meet next week, following Tuesday’s executive council meeting.

Galway will meet on the same evening, and must choose who to nominate. Tom Turley is the current Connacht vice-president, and is being spoken of as a potential candidate. He is also a member of the Eyrecourt branch. Speaking on Wednesday, Turley said his focus was on the upcoming executive council meeting and Con Lucey’s report in terms of where IFA goes next, but more particularly as chair of the flood project team, in dealing with the plight of farmers whose yards, sheds, and indeed houses, are under water.

Election date

The key outstanding issue is setting a timeframe for the election. There are calls for it to be held as quickly as is practically possible, and within the timeframe prescribed by the IFA’s own rules, which would mean a 25 January deadline. There are also counter-calls to hold off, with the IFA’s rules and privileges committee proposing a rule change that would allow council defer the election until, “for example, March, April or June”.

Full coverage: turmoil at the IFA