The IFA elections are proceeding apace, with little over one week of voting remaining. The campaign teams of the five candidates in the presidential and deputy presidential races are reporting good turnouts in their own home patches, but lower numbers of IFA members are voting in other areas, particularly further to the north and west.

In an apparent effort to boost turnout, the IFA released the contact details of every IFA member affiliated with branches voting on Monday and Tuesday last to the campaign teams. This was met with a muted response from the teams of John Coughlan, Tim Cullinan and Angus Woods.

Raised eyebrows

There were some eyebrows raised at such a move following a full week of voting, where over 300 branches have already cast ballots.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that at least one campaign team has opted not to use this information at all.

“It would have involved phoning about 4,500 people in two days” a spokesperson for the candidate said. “Volunteer campaigns simply don’t have those kind of resources.”

Instead, the teams are relying on a ground canvas where possible, augmented by a phone call to each of the branch officers, and selected “key influencers”.

At this stage, no-one is prepared to call either contest. The presidential election looks like being the closest in a generation, certainly since the 2001 election that saw John Dillon emerge from a four-way battle with Padraig Walshe (who went on to succeed him) Raymond O’Malley, and John Boylan.

Similarly, Thomas Cooney and Brian Rushe are chasing every last vote in the deputy presidential contest.