John Dillon

Deputy president, IFA

John Dillon, who is from Co Limerick, says he is seeking the job because rural Ireland can prosper only if farmers prosper, and only the IFA can ensure that happens. "I am the best man to run IFA, and I have a track record of delivery. If I believed that there was anyone better than I am among the other three, I would withdraw. I believe in farmers and farming, but I believe that there must be changes, and I have a track record of delivery. I will have a different style than went before. If someone tells me something, be it the Department of Agriculture or the officials of the IFA, I will have to be 100 per cent happy before I accept what they say. I regard the IFA president as the servant of the farming community, and not the other way round. I don't want to be looked up to. I feel that members are not nearly demanding enough and are soft on the organisation."

Raymond O'Malley

Beef farmer from Ardee, former chairman of national beef committee, chairman of Co Louth IFA

He says he wants to become IFA president to put pride and confidence back into the industry to which he belongs. "I want to use the hands-on experience I gathered in very difficult situations like the BSE crisis, the blockade of the factories and the foot-and-mouth crisis. I have heaps of experience. I am also the only candidate who had practical hands-on experience of marketing, because I have taken part in promotions of beef in Britain and Italy. I have been in Egypt and have visited Iran. I will bring changes to the IFA if elected. One of the main ones would be the appointment of a member-assistance team. Too much valuable time is being spent by key officials on solving minor problems which could be dealt with by others. These key officials should be involved in researching policies so that mistakes which have been made in the past will not be repeated."

Padraig Walshe

Dairy farmer and chairman, IFA national dairy committee

Laois-based Padraig Walshe says he wants to be president because he has been involved in farming organisations most of his life, as was his father before him. "The IFA's greatest strength is its ability to come to grips with the serious issues and to bring its people out in numbers, if necessary. It is imperative for the organisation to become more involved in issues such as rural development, to help find off-farm jobs for rural people. Other issues requiring attention are road building pipelines, and there is a need to challenge the attitude of An Taisce toward rural housing. If elected, I will be seeking to have more women involved in the organisation and fighting for the rights of women who work on the land, especially farm wives who have no rights to pensions like their husbands."

John Boylan

National treasurer of the IFA

Boylan says that, even after 30 years in agripolitics, he still gets a buzz from righting wrongs and helping the sector. "What I really want to do is to achieve a turnaround in farm incomes by concentrating on marketing, so that I can get the kind of increases that will bring farm incomes back in line with the rest of the country. That means concentrating on product prices and efficiency and doing something about the bureaucracy which is strangling the industry. The time has come when new technologies should be applied to make farming a lot easier, and proper use of IT systems could ease the very heavy burden of form-filling on the sector. I have ideas, too, about changing the organisation itself, and even before the start of the campaign, as national treasurer, I had started an organisational review. The IFA has remained the same for the last 46 years . . . and we cannot rely on voluntary labour forever. There are many more demands being made on voluntary time, and the mix we need in IFA needs refining if we are to continue to give the service."