New IFA chairman

New Mayo IFA chairman to raise plight of sheep farmers

Anton McNulty

SHEEP farming in Mayo faces big challenges in the years ahead in order to keep people interested in continuing to work in the sector, according to the new Chairman of Mayo IFA.
Mr Martin Gavin was recently elected the new Chairman of the Mayo branch of the IFA for a four-year term, replacing Michael Biggins. A native of Delphi on the Mayo/Galway border, Martin has been an active member of the IFA for the past decade and was the national chairman of the Special Area of Conservation committee for four years.
He said there was a number of issues facing farmers in Mayo which he would be raising over the next four years, with the plight of the sheep farmer being one of the most important in his view, he told The Mayo News.
“There are a number of issues which are facing farmers in Mayo and, while beef and dairy farmers have been doing okay over the last few years, sheep farmers on the other hand have been losing out. Their grazing times have been curtailed, while there have also been cutbacks in the number of stock in the last number of years. There are also issues regarding the removal of sheep from the Nephin range and these are the issues which a lot of work will have to go in to. It is not just the hill sheep farmers who are affected, it is the whole sheep sector. Since the Bangor and Maam markets came to an end, large areas have not been served with a place for selling sheep and if this sort of thing continues people are going to lose interest and leave the sector,” he said.
The issue of REPS payments, which have been held up, is causing a number of cash-flow problems, he said, and he called on Minister Mary Coughlan to resolve the issue.
Martin said he was grateful to all the people who asked him to put his name forward for chairman and to the people who voted for him. He said it was an honour to become chairman and he paid tribute to the former chairman, Michael Biggins.
“We have been lucky in Mayo because the last three chairmen have been real leaders and the pressure is on me to follow suit,” he said.