IFA boss unhappy over IRL remarks

A FURIOUS farm leader yesterday rejected any move to direct EU rural development funds away from farming after 2007 and denied agriculture was a spent force in Ireland.

Ruaidhri Deasy, deputy president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), was responding to Irish Rural Link (IRL), which challenged the view that agriculture is the dominant player in rural areas and the rural economy.

IRL chief executive Seamus Boland said farming organisations and farmers must realise they no longer hold a monopoly on rural policies and monies.