Huge PR win for IFA — and Govt

The media reported the attendance at the IFA-organised Day of Action protest in Dublin to be 20,000, a magnificent turn-out.

Yet some people in the farming community are still wondering what it was all about and what was achieved? When I heard that Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney welcomed the protest, I thought “That’s a bit odd”.

Surely, a protest indicates that its participants believe something is wrong. It was seen as a vehicle to get across to the Government the message that life and business also exist outside bigger urban areas — that’s not a bad reason.