Parlon and Parnell: the right to a free market

AS A farmer, I agree with junior minister Tom Parlon when he says the State should not be allowed interfere in the value of land owned by its private citizens.

Land is the capital and the lifeblood of every farm in this country and farmers do as much as any group to maintain our land heritage.

Why should a farmer whose family has worked the land for generations be forced to accept a cap on the value on his or her property and surrender the value to someone else?

It was fitting that Tom Parlon gave his views at the Parnell Summer School. Charles Stewart Parnell and the leaders of the Land League fought so that tenant farmers could have the right to own their own property. It would be a slight on their memory if the Government decided to interfere in the private property of Irish citizens.

PJ Long,

Jamestown,

Clonmel,

Co Tipperary.