Sonna branch member receives IFA Honorary Life Membership

The biggest change in farming in the last 20 years has been the shift from yard work to paper work, according to Paddy Donnelly, a man who been to the forefront of farming locally and nationally over five decades. Paddy was presented with honorary life membership of the Irish Farmers Association by Francie Gorman, the 17th president of the IFA, at a meeting of the Westmeath County Executive in Mullingar last week.

From Balrath House, Slanemore, Mullingar, Paddy joined his local branch of the IFA, Sonna, in the 1980s, when Westmeath IFA had their office at the Sales Yard, Mullingar, now the site of the Marketpoint apartment complex.

In the mid-1990s, Paddy was elected chairman of the Animal Health committee in Westmeath, taking over from JJ Farrell. He was subsequently elected by the County Executive to represent Westmeath on the national Animal Health committee.

“I was also chairman of my local branch in Sonna which was always a very vibrant branch and, at that time, had around 100 members”, he told the Westmeath Examiner. We had great people like Louis Vambeck, Alan Murray and Joe Nangle who were key men in the IFA at the time, and would have been on the farmers’ march to Dublin in 1966, he said.

In 2005, Paddy was elected chairman of Westmeath IFA. Four years later he ran for the post of vice president of Ulster/North Leinster and was narrowly defeated after a recount.

Paddy moved from the national Animal Health committee to the IFA’s key national Livestock committee. In 2016 he was elected vice chair of that committee and was subsequently invited to run for chair, an invitation he declined. “I had too much going on at my own farm and I had seen how much time the role of vice chairman took up. I felt my farm would suffer if I was to give the job 110 percent, and I always like to give 110 percent to everything I do”, Paddy explained.

He was then appointed to the Rules and Privileges committee of the IFA for a term, before returning to the national Animal Health committee, and most recently serving on the Johne’s committee.

Looking back on his career in the IFA Paddy said: “The years flew by, I didn’t find them going. I made a huge amount of friends right across the country, and it was a great privilege to meet various Government leaders and local Councillors. It was a great experience”.

Looking back on the changes that he has witnessed Paddy remarked: “Farming has modernised an awful lot in the last 20 years, in grassland, housing and farm yards, mainly because of REPS which helped tremendously”. REPS tidied up farms and made farmers more health and safety aware, he said, adding that “it is very important to be able to work in a safe environment”.

Mechanisation has made farming less labour-intensive, but the amount of paper work has increased, “meaning you spend nearly more time in the office than in the yard”, he commented. He welcomed the quality assurance that has been brought about by better record keeping, but pointed out that “farmers have a huge amount of data to fill in, for every sector”.

Prices for beef saw a significant increase last year but costs have gone up too; dairying was doing well up to six months ago, until the price dropped; sheep are back a lot too, compared to 12 months ago, and grain prices are back, compared to a few years ago, Paddy observed.

“Fertilizer and diesel prices have gone through the roof and food prices and inflation are going to rise very high in the next couple of months”, Paddy predicts.

He would love to see more young people coming into farming, but fears that will not happen until farming becomes more profitable. “If a young person has a good pay package, it is hard to give that up to farm; if they do it will be for the love of farming, not for its profitability”, he said.

Being an honorary member means that Paddy will remain active in the IFA but will not hold any positions on national committees.

Paddy Donnelly has also been a driving force behind the continued success of Mullingar Agricultural Show. He joined the show committee in the early 1960s when people like Ken Brabazon, Ray Duncan and Mary Nea were at the helm. In fact, he is one of the longest serving members of the committee, behind the President Joe Dolan who preceded him.

He is public relations officer with the Show Committee and was eager to stress that this year’s show, on the second Sunday in July, will be bigger and better than ever. We are at work already, getting the showgrounds at Cullion ready for this year’s show, he declared.