IFA angry over exclusion from international earth summit

THE Department of the Environment yesterday rejected an IFA claim it was attempting to exclude the voice of farmers from the Irish delegation to attend next month's earth summit in South Africa.

IFA Environmental Committee chairman Francis Fanning said the department is funding a range of environmental non-governmental groups (NGOs) to attend the summit.

But it had not chosen to invite IFA representatives, who are at the forefront of the debate and policy on how best to protect the environment.