A Mayo Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) protest held at Mayo County Council's monthly meeting received “unanimous” support from councillors this Monday 25 March.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal after the council meeting in Castlebar, IFA Connacht chair Brendan Golden said as part of the organisation’s ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign, Mayo IFA outlined farmers’ concerns.

“The rezoned land tax was brought up today, a few of the council members were very strong on that. It has been a key concern of ours.

“The importance of farming to a county like Mayo was very well supported there too. Our Mayo IFA chair John Lynskey made the point that this message needs to be shoved up the line,” he said.

Deliver the message

Golden added that he hopes councillors in all counties will now deliver farmers’ messages up the line and that they will be targeting candidates in the local and European elections also.

“We hope that the councillors across all the counties will deliver a strong, clear message that this is important and that we get delivery on this.

“We will be pushing all the council candidates and the MEP candidates on what we need in Europe. That is going to be a key thing going forward.

“It was highlighted that top-level bureaucrats, whether it is in Dublin or Brussels, they need to realise that farming is important; we need to maintain our production and we need to maintain our farming systems.

“This [campaign] is starting at the bottom and we intend on working the whole way to the top,” he added.

Galway IFA also protested at Galway County Council’s monthly meeting this Monday, the Connacht chair said.

The IFA has held protests at county council meetings around the country over the past month as part of its campaign.