Who runs rural Ireland? An army of volunteers

I bumped into a man called Neilus O’Leary during the summer.

We got away for a couple of days in the summer to Kerry, and were having breakfast in a hotel in Tralee when I spied him at a nearby table, and he spied me. We chatted for a few minutes to catch up a little.

I originally met a man I’ve always known as Neilie when he was chair of the IFA’s hill committee. He was an engaging and articulate advocate for farmers who are in many cases farming in the most isolated and challenging of conditions.

We also had another link, as is so typical in this little country of ours. Neilie is from Kealkil near Bantry, and was a good friend of my uncle Humphrey Lynch.

We actually had met socially down there one night many moons ago in the Ouvane Falls Hotel at a céilí when I was visiting my mother’s people.

Anyway, Neilie and I were chatting, and he explained that his son was now mainly running the farm; he was stepping back a little. But he certainly wasn’t stepping back from local community involvement.

We spoke of family. Neilie would see my aunt Kitty in an active retirement group. As we talked, it became clear this was a group he had been instrumental in setting up.

My uncle Humphrey sadly passed away in 2017, but his son-in-law Padraig Healy is running the farm now. I asked if he knew Padraig well. Neilus told me he was involved with a team that Padraig played on. The Bantry Blues, I asked, as I knew Padraig won a county senior football title with the Blues. No, Neilus said, Padraig had hurled under him.

Hurling, in the absolute heart of football country. There’s nothing Neilus wouldn’t put his shoulder to.

Why am I recounting this conversation? Because perhaps we take the Neilie O’Leary’s for granted. Community activity is the beating heart of rural Ireland, and people like Neilie are the stints in the arteries, keeping everything flowing along with unstinting effort, organising and delegating and co-opting and conscripting.

It’s easy to be cynical about people who put themselves forward, whether that’s in politics, sport, or the local hall committee. Volunteerism is at the heart of Irish farming, whether it’s in co-ops, farm representative organisations, or many other strands.

On Thursday evening, I moderated an online debate between John Curran and Frank Brady. The two men are contesting the IFA’s Ulster/North Leinster regional chair position. John, the current Meath county chair, is an organic suckler, beef, sheep and tillage farmer, who also has a few turkeys. Frank, a Galway native settled in Monaghan (he was recently county chair there) is a pig producer. Both men started from scratch, and what they have, they have built themselves with their families.

And both men are willing to put their neck on the block and represent farmers in a role that is extremely demanding. Seven counties stretching from the hills of Donegal to the plains of Westmeath and right up to Dublin city on the Meath and Louth borders.

Some will say they are looking for a seat on the gravy train. I can respectfully reply that that is bullshit.

I have in the past held small positions within the IFA. I was the county farm business chair, and sat on the national committee. The travelling and meeting expenses were welcome, but didn’t compensate for the day lost from the farm.

Back in 2016, the IFA was engulfed by remuneration issues. The general secretary and then the president resigned. I attended dozens of meetings around that time, locally and nationally, and heard the allegations that everyone was “on the take”.

I knew it wasn’t true. Hundreds of national committee members and county officers who gave freely of their time were inevitably out of pocket for their efforts. That wasn’t a problem, they loved the buzz of representation.

My father Patrick was a joiner. Not that he worked with wood, he was a farmer all his life. I mean he joined things. He was a founder member of Wexford Farmers Co-op and the Enniscorthy Farm Centre.

I remember as a fairly small lad being brought for spins in the car when he was out collecting to build the mart and the local farm centre. Everyone who contributed has their name on the wall as you enter the building, which gives farmers a venue to meet and socialise.

He was a committee member of the Beet and Vegetable Association (BVA) from 1969 until his untimely death in 1998. He became chair in 1985, which meant he held a similar position in IFA as the one John and Frank are contesting - the BVA chair was a vice-president of the IFA.

It was a very demanding role, but one he relished and was good at. I was immensely proud of him.

At 20, I was at home, which helped afford him the time he needed to give the required commitment. Dad’s brother Louis shouldered the burden in the years before that, and continued to right through Dad’s years of activism. That said, Dad often came home from a day in Dublin or Thurles, ate, got changed, and went out and put in hours in the evening, catching up.

The old adage “ask a busy person” being what it was, Dad was also on the local parish council, the local hall committee, which meant the field day. He was spared the school committee only because my mother was a teacher there.

This Sunday (12 December), the Individual Farmers are gathering to protest at venues in a ring around Dublin. I don’t know exactly what form the protest will take, but I’ll be along to document it.

I’ve talked to members of the Beef Plan, the Irish Beef and Lamb Association (not much since the split with Beef Plan), the original Individual Farmers (there has been a split) and members of one of the two Independent Farmers (you’ve guessed it).

You don’t have to agree with these men and women in terms of their analysis of where farming is and where it’s going to have an appreciation for their sincerity and their determination to try to make things better.

Similarly, the various viewpoints in the debate over the future of Glanbia and Kerry should never forget the other side are fellow farmers, and deserve a bit of respect.

I wish John Curran and Frank Brady well. I wish the Individual Farmers safe passage, I hope they make their point and get home to their families as we all prepare for a second successive strange Christmas.

On Friday night, the local national school celebrated the turning on of the Christmas lights. My lads have long since moved on, but my youngest was invited back for the occasion. Along with the other five alumni of this tiny school who had played on the Ferns minor hurlers and won a county title this year, Conor turned on the lights.

A nice little gesture from the teachers, the kind of touch Neilie O’Leary and my Dad would have approved of.