The three candidates vying for leadership of the Republic's farming community face a bruising election, writes Seán Mac Connell
The first official verbal shots will be fired tomorrow in Mullingar by the three men who want to become next president of the Irish Farmers' Association.
Contesting the post are Raymond alley, from Louth; Pádraig Walshe, from Laois, and Ruaidhrí Deasy, from Tipperary. They will have their first formal debate at a Macra na Feirme conference.
Make no mistake, an IFA presidential election is a bruising contest, beloved by the membership and the media alike, and it has been a borstal rather than a nursery for political careers, which often follow victory.
In fact, some months ago, the IFA's headquarters in Dublin was forced to issue a code of conduct for the candidates which included the instruction: "Derogatory references about other candidates shall be avoided." However, veterans of previous campaigns for the four-year job, which does not even earn the winner a pay cheque, believe that some derogatory references will probably be unavoidable.
The code of conduct for the election is unlikely to restrain those taking part in the traditional rough-and-tumble which has become part of IFA leadership battles down the years. It was issued on July 25th, but by that time the campaigning was well under way and some heavy punches had already been thrown.
All three candidates have hired public relations consultants to help them, but head office is insisting that these PR companies "shall only be used in an appropriate manner". It has also banned the candidates from media advertising in the press and on radio and television, and has issued an instruction that all statements from the three must be released through the IFA press office.
Two of the candidates, Pádraig Walshe and Raymond O'Malley, have contested the IFA presidency previously. They lost out last time to John Dillon. Ruaidhrí Deasy is the deputy president of the association and he is making his challenge for the top job for the first time.
However, since that last election, the rules have been changed. In previous elections, each of the 946 branches of the IFA, no matter how large or small, had one vote only. But earlier this year the association, which claims a membership of 80,000, introduced a weighted branch voting system. This means that the bigger branches will now have up to four votes while the smaller ones will still have only one. This will shift the balance of power from the west to the east of the State, where the branches tend to be larger, though less numerous.
While nominations for the post of IFA president do not close until October 28th, the candidates have already been pounding the highways and byways in their quest for votes.
Observers say that there has seldom been a more able panel of candidates for the presidency.
Mr Walshe, who farms in Bishopswood, Durrow, Co Laois, is an award-winning dairy and beef farmer and a former president of Macra na Feirme. He has served as chairman of the association's dairy committee and is the national treasurer of the IFA.
Mr O'Malley runs a mixed beef and tillage enterprise in Co Louth and is recognised as one of the most progressive farmers in the Republic. He is currently the IFA's Ulster/North Leinster vice-president and he has served as chairman of the association's national livestock committee.
Mr Deasy, son of former NFA president Rickard Deasy, runs a tillage, sheep and cattle farm near Roscrea, Co Tipperary. Currently deputy president of the IFA, he is a previous chairman of the association's national grain committee and has served at all levels within the IFA over the years.