A downturn in the building industry will have dire repercussions for farmers in Kerry, many of whose sons work in construction locally, a meeting between farmers and general election candidates heard in Tralee.
"A lot of farmers' sons are in the building industry. If anything happens to that there may be no place to go for many," Fine Gael Kerry North general election candidate Jimmy Deenihan warned at the meeting organised by the Irish Farmers' Association.
Killarney farmer Ted Horan said farmers and gamekeepers managed mountain burning for the benefit of flora and fauna, yet a decision by the Department of the Environment to prohibit burning after March 1st let growth go out of hand. "Take the power away from the civil servants, and come back and use local knowledge," he told the candidates.
