IFA payments scandal is a world away from farming realities

As the IFA’s emergency meeting took a badly needed break to recharge already frayed emotions, a copy of the Irish Farmers Journal left crumpled in the crowded foyer quietly spoke volumes, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Amid 53 IFA delegates still digesting revelations over top officials’ lucrative payments, to themselves, the headline ‘Anger at Payments Backlog: cash-flow concerns for thousands of farmers’ summed up the mood.

The crisis facing the rural lobby group due to the controversial salaries, pensions, and add-ons for ex-president Eddie Downey and general secretary Pat Smith, who stepped down last week, is a world away from the harsh realities ordinary farmers still face every day.