President honours 50 years of the IFA

Ray Ryan recounts President Mary McAleese’s speech marking the 1955 foundation of farmers’ organisation.

THE people who founded what is now the Irish Farmers' Association prised open a closed box 50 years ago and let the future in, said President Mary McAleese at the organisation's golden jubilee celebrations at the RDS in Dublin.

President McAleese said the Ireland into which the fledgling National Farmers' Association emerged was very different from that of today: poverty, unemployment, hardship and emigration were prevalent. Life was tough in town and country. For most of the population, the undertaking of mundane tasks involved an effort out of all proportion to what would be required today.