North Mayo farmer and rural Ireland campaigner to contest General Election

THE founder of the Rural Ireland Organisation, Gerry Loftus has declared that he will contest the upcoming General Election as an Independent candidate.

With the General Election to take place on Friday, November 29, the number of candidates in the Mayo constituency is expected to exceed the 15 who contested the 2020 General Election.

To date 15 candidates have confirmed they will put their name forward with Lahardane-based farmer and rural Ireland campaigner, Gerry Loftus the latest to add his hat to the ring.

In a statement confirming his candidacy, Mr Loftus stated that it is extremely concerning that with virtually full employment, very few people seem to be able to make ends meet and there is ‘crisis after crisis’ in health and housing.

Mt Loftus, who contested the local elections in the Castlebar Electoral Area in June, accused the two main Government parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of having little interest in the future of rural Ireland and were only interested in satisfying the needs of the corporate world at the expense of small local business.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have enabled the corporate takeover of our society. Everything is geared to ridding the country of the smaller stakeholder and allowing working people to be exploited. Vulture Funds are buying entire housing estates, endless super stores in our rural towns closing down our small shops. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have proven many times that they have no interest in maintaining our rural communities. They failed to protect small businesses in the recent budget by not reducing VAT from 13 percent to 9 percent. This is at a time when restaurants, pubs, small shops, cafes are closing by the hour and nothing from this Government.

“In terms of agriculture, we are losing 1,400 small to medium sized family farms per year, 33 percent of our farmers are over 65, many with no successor. The decision by Fianna Fáil in 2008 and supported by Fine Gael to go down the road of an industrialised dairy model of Irish agriculture is in no doubt a massive failure.

“The government document called Pathways for Growth laid out the basis for this failed strategy. Pushing smaller farmers off the land to create massive dairy farms and plant the west of Ireland in Sitka Spruce to cover our emissions. Needless to say that plan has failed in terms of water quality, carbon emissions, biodiversity and regional sustainability.

“The government’s failed strategy not only benefits the big agri businesses but also leaves the taxpayer on the hook for huge fines from the EU for not reaching our emissions targets. Presently, these fines amount to €8 billion of taxpayers money and by 2030 the fines could be as high as €12 billion per year.

“Our people should now be reaping the benefits of a climate resistant natural forestry sector, instead a carbon tax has been inflicted on our people, to shift the burden onto working people for the environmental crimes of the big polluters. Biodiversity has been destroyed by monocultures of sitka spruce plantations which also destroy soil and water quality in the name of corporate profit. To make matters worse these monocultures are a source of carbon not a store,” he said.

“We are paying a heavy price in the west of Ireland for the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I would suggest it is past time to float the idea of a new political party to represent the BMW region. One that puts small farmers, workers and climate action ahead of corporate greed. As an independent candidate who has campaigned for many years on issues affecting rural Ireland I am asking people to consider giving me their vote so I can bring these issues into the Dáil,” he concluded.