Name: Tom Parlon.
Position: 10th president, IFA. Age: 47.
Why he is in the news: He is leader of the country's largest farm organisation as the first case of foot-and-mouth disease in 60 years is reported.
Career: Educated in Roscrea CBS and Gurteen Agricultural College. He was chairman of the sheep committee and national treasurer of the IFA before becoming deputy president in 1991. He has been president since 1998.
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Family:
He is married to Martha, a working farmer, and they have five children: Deirdre and Niamh at college; Fergal, who had to leave agricultural college because of FMD restrictions; and Aoife and Cathal, still at school.
