Holly Cairns: 'There’s a lack of respect for farmers and we need to rebuild that'

“I genuinely thought the pandemic would teach us really important things about how vulnerable our supply chains are."

"If the Government was serious about making a shift and supporting farmers in doing it, it could benefit everybody and most importantly, the next generation of farmers". Picture: Denis Minihane

An organic smallholder on the Turk Head peninsula, Holly Cairns knows only too well how the disconnect between policy and producers can affect rural livelihoods.

Often, she says, producers feel as though their input has been excluded. Something which drove her to take up a career in politics, representing the voices of rural communities on a national scale.