The first debates in the 2023 Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) election are to begin next week.

The west Cork and Cork central IFA county executives are hosting the first of 16 election debates. This will be held on Monday 2 October between the candidates running for president and deputy president in Macroom, Co Cork.

The debates will cover each of the 29 IFA county executives and will run until Monday 30 October, concluding in Donegal.

Also, debates for regional chair positions will take place during October, with voting on the night of each debate.

A full breakdown of when and where each election debate will take place can be found here.

The election count will take place on 12 December.

IFA national returning officer Brian Rushe has encouraged members, farmers and others involved in the agriculture sector to attend a debate to hear from candidates.

“This will provide the members with an opportunity to assess the two candidates before they decide who to vote for,” he said.

Candidates

Francie Gorman from Laois and Martin Stapleton from Limerick are running to be the 17th president of IFA.

Alice Doyle from Wexford and Pat Murphy from Galway will contest for the deputy president position.

“All our branch officers, county officers and national officers are elected by farmers. The president and deputy president of IFA are elected directly by members. They are truly representative of farmers and they carry a genuine mandate once elected,” Rushe said.