Francie Gorman Announces IFA Presidential Candidacy

ABBEYLEIX, Ireland - Sept. 10, 2023 - PRLog -- Francie Gorman, a beef, suckler and sheep farmer from Ballinakill, County Laois, was speaking this weekend at the launch of his campaign in Abbeyleix where there was more than 350 people in attendance, including former IFA President John Bryan and IFA County Chairpersons from across the country.

With his wife Kate and son Tom at his side, Gorman said his priority is to ensure Ireland does not transfer its food production business to countries that produce food in "a less sustainable fashion than we do just to keep people who are anti-farming in this country happy."

"Aside from the constant need to improve commodity prices and ongoing issues around engagement with the Department on the various schemes, the potential diminution of our food production output remains the single biggest issue facing farmers.  Ireland produces its milk, beef and grain as sustainably as anywhere else in the world and if it's not produced here it's going to be produced by countries with a bigger environmental footprint. Neither Irish farmers nor the environment benefit from such a scenario," he explained.

Gorman, who currently is chairman of the IFA's South Leinster branch and is a former Laois IFA chairman, said Ireland should be immensely proud of the growth of its agriculture sector in the half-century since it entered the European Union (EU) in 1973.

"Ireland remains a rural, agriculture-based country that produces enough food to feed 40 million people and because of that, and due to not having huge industrial regions like Germany's Ruhr Valley, agricultural emissions will always bear the highest emissions totals," stated Gorman.

Keynote speakers at Francie Gorman's launch evening included Anna Marie McHugh (National Ploughing Association), Jim Mulhall (Kilkenny IFA Chair) and John Fitzpatrick (Laois IFA Chair). Other speakers included Anna May McHugh (National Ploughing Association), John Bryan (former IFA President), Jer O'Mahony (Wexford IFA Chair), and former county chairs Ann Baker (North Cork), Erica O'Keeffe (South Tipperary), James Murphy (Kilkenny) and Liam Brophy (Macra na Feirme).

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