AN HOUR at the ploughing championships with Pádraig Walshe canvassing on the Lisbon Treaty referendum would seem to suggest that farmers are set to vote overwhelmingly Yes.
The Irish Farmers’ Association president had been expressing confidence that farmers would come out in favour of the treaty because of the reaction he was getting on the ground.
Yesterday, he tested that ground at the championships in Athy, Co Kildare, where in front of the IFA stand he carried out a public canvas – and he proved his point.
He asked Michael Holden, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, and Ned Morrissey from St Mullins if they were going to support the treaty and they both said they would do because they felt they had no other choice.
So did Tommy Fenton from Co Laois, who said he voted Yes the last time out and felt he would have to do it again.
Walshe is at his best when under pressure and that came from Michael Quinn from Leitrim, who posed a series of questions on the benefits of voting for the treaty as he was undecided on how to vote. What about the future of Reps, the suckler cow scheme? Would the single farm payments continue to come if he voted No?
Walshe said Reps had been an EU creation and might not exist at all only for the union and the Government could only cut its contribution, not the EU money; and, he continued, the suckler cow money would be paid, albeit a year late. The single farm payment was untouchable.
Cavan farmer Martin Stafford from Kingscourt confessed he had voted No last time but felt he had no choice this time out but to vote Yes.
“The thing is I think they will keep putting it back at us again if we reject this time and we might as well get it over and done with now,” he said.
Martin Phelan from Camross, Co Laois, said he had not changed his mind and would also be voting Yes again.
Then Walshe was confronted by a man with doubts. Séamus Hayes from Tipperary, a Yes voter last time, had a long and convoluted story about how the late arrival by a day of a map to support his single farm payment had cost him a 2 per cent penalty in the payment. “After all of that – and remember, I applied online for the first time, saving the Department a rake of money – I have to think seriously about voting Yes this time out,” he said.
“You are confusing the Government with the EU,” said Walshe. “What happened to you, and it was wrong and can be appealed, has nothing to do with Lisbon. Jaysus, you cannot confuse the two.” Mr Hayes said he probably would do “the right thing”.
A Waterford farmer, who would not give his name, said he would not be voting Yes because of the behaviour of the Government. He castigated Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and said he was responsible for most of the damage done to farms.
Again the IFA president said there was no relationship between the two issues and Lisbon would ensure the continuation of EU supports and the possible loss of influence if he voted No.
The next voter was an easy one for Walshe. Brigid O’Connor from Crettyard had voted No the last time but would be voting Yes this time. “After all, I could hardly avoid doing that, Pádraig is my nephew,” she said.
Some 200 yards away, David Thompson of the Farmers For No to Lisbon group was also handing out leaflets. He was not prepared to concede that Irish farmers would be voting in such numbers for the treaty. Referring to the findings of an IFA/Farmers Journal poll which said 80 per cent of farmers will say Yes, he said: “I think it is going to be close and I do not believe the polls. That is not what I am picking up here from farmers. Many of them are angry and will be voting No.”
Accompanied by James Reynolds, the Longford man who heads the organisation, Mr Thompson said unfortunately the group did not have the same resources as the other side of the argument. “All the major political parties, businesses and other interest groups are putting a lot of money into getting a Yes vote. We are concentrating on getting the message across that a Yes vote will damage Irish agriculture.”
Mr Thompson said a Yes would be a death wish to Ireland’s beef industry and farming in general as we would lose our ability to veto destructive policies.
A No vote would also strengthen our hand in negotiations and help protect Irish interests.