ICMSA head leads Leddy tributes

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to the late Anthony Leddy, the former President of ICMSA, whose funeral took place in Milltown, Co Cavan.

Mr Leddy, a champion of rural development and the co-operative movement, died last weekend after a short illness.

He served as ICMSA president from 1978 to 1981 and was a recipient of the Horace Plunkett Award from ICOS for services to the co-operative movement.

Current ICMSA leader Pat O'Rourke described him as a farm leader and a rural community campaigner whose achievement improved the well-being of farm families and the wider rural communities.

"Anthony's strength was that he had the ability to identify what could be achieved and then he enthusiastically, and with determination pursued that objective," he said.

Mr Leddy joined the ICMSA as a teenager in the 1950s and served as secretary of the Milltown branch, as Cavan delegate to the National Council and as an administrative committee member.

He also served on the IFA/ICMSA Co-ordinating Group.

He served on the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels and was chairman of a group which drew up an influential report on EU structural funds for the Border Region, north and south.

Mr Leddy was chairman of Comhar LEADER Na hÉireann and was also actively involved in a number of local and national bodies.

Mr O'Rourke said Anthony Leddy was influenced and encouraged by the founding generation of Irish farm leaders.

"It is a tribute to Anthony that he ensured that the voice of Irish farmers was heard not alone in Dublin but in Europe.

"His contribution in ensuring that the Irish farming and food sector availed of the opportunities and benefits of EU membership was immense.

"Indeed his work and achievements in this regard are still paying dividends to farming families," he said.

Mr Leddy is survived by his wife Kathleen, sons, Anthony and John, daughters, Lisa-Ann, Sineid, Kathrina and Louise.