Macra members will walk through the night from Athy to Dublin on Tuesday 25 April to highlight the challenges facing young farmers and young people living in rural Ireland.

Macra’s national council has voted unanimously to take action on eight issues that face rural young people.

The association has said that national attention must be brought to these issues and that the voice of rural communities must be brought to the fore.

Among them are the Government’s definition of a family farm as “average” and “typical”, the imposition of quotas on young farmers in TAMS, and proposals to rewet large areas of rural Ireland.

It will also highlight the issues of accessing affordable housing, cumbersome planning guidelines, disjointed healthcare services for rural communities and lack of public transport for rural Ireland.

Walk

“Our roots in Macra stem back 79 years to Athy, County Kildare,” Macra said in correspondence to its members.

“That is why on Tuesday 25 April at 7pm we will take the message of ‘The Rural Revival, Steps for our Future’ from the town of Athy, where Stephen Cullinan founded Macra in 1944, to the doors of Government in the centre of Dublin.

“We will physically carry the message walking through the night from Athy to arrive at Government buildings at 1pm on Wednesday 26 April.”

Macra has said its message is simple: “We want to be able to remain at home in our rural communities.”

It will present its proposals to Government on arriving at Government buildings on Wednesday 26 April.

Support

Macra is calling on members and rural people to spread the word about its action and has asked that those in rural Ireland attend the start of the walk in Athy, to walk and carry the message to Government buildings.

“Our future is in our hands, let the youth design their own destiny, our time to act is now. Please spread the word, attend and be vocal about our future,” it said.