Local authorities must learn from the enormous mistakes made in recent years in planning and house building, according to IFA presidential candidate, John Bryan.

Addressing the Local Authority Members’ Association conference in Limerick, John Bryan said the decisions to establish large scale housing developments in towns and villages where demand never existed exemplified the madness in the construction bubble. At the same time, many local authorities were refusing to allow family members build a home on the family farm.

Speaking to 250 elected members of local authorities at the Limerick conference, John Bryan also said that he was very concerned about the additional powers being given to the Minister for the Environment over local planning in new legislation that is now being framed.

“The current Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is distinctly anti rural Ireland and has no appreciation of the role of the family farm in maintaining vibrant rural communities. Farmers and those representing them on local authorities have reason to be worried about his extreme green agenda,” said John Bryan.

He called on elected local representatives to join with the IFA in lobbying Ministers and members of the Oireachtas to ensure that the cutbacks in REPS and other schemes are reversed.

“The cutbacks will cost the rural economy more than double the actual savings and will result in more than 20,000 job losses in rural areas. Councillors elected by members of the farming community must ensure that the government is fully aware of the impact of its decisions,” he said.

The government decision to dismantle the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) will have a greater impact on Mayo than almost every other county, according to IFA presidential candidate, John Bryan.

“With some 7,000 farmers in Mayo, more than 10% of total participants, involved in REPS, the impact of closing the scheme on the welfare of farm families and rural areas will be horrendous. Without REPS, many of these farm families will be forced onto the Farm Assist Scheme. Also up to 2,000 people involved in providing REPS-related services in the county will lose their jobs. The decision makes no economic sense,” said John Bryan.

The Kilkenny drystock farmer, who visited a large number of farms in Mayo last week, said he is committed to a new and smarter style of leadership in order to reverse the savage cutbacks and to bring the agri-food sector centre stage in economic recovery.

“Ensuring that farmers are treated as equal partners with government, processors and retailers must dominate the IFA agenda over the coming years. The government has completely reneged on the last two partnership deals and the supermarkets are second only to the banks in the way they have ripped off the Irish economy. Partnership cannot be a one-way street,” he said.

John Bryan said his track record in delivering real benefits for farmers demonstrated his leadership and negotiating skills. He pointed to his central role in securing an EU ban on Brazilian beef imports, in negotiating the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme and in protecting live cattle exports.