Interim IFA president fails in nomination bid

Three people are officially in the running to becoming the new president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), but the previous interim incumbent is not among them.

The deadline for applications to succeed former IFA president Eddie Downey passed at 5.30pm yesterday, with three nominees in contention for the top job in the country’s largest farming representative body. An April election is likely.

IFA livestock chairman Henry Burns from Laois, and Galway farmer Joe Healy, a former president of Macra Na Feirme, were the first two candidates to lodge papers, both having secured the required backing of six county executives.