{"id":127099,"date":"2025-10-17T02:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/127099\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T02:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:27:11","slug":"heather-humphreys-gives-it-welly-as-she-rallies-rural-support-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/127099\/","title":{"rendered":"Heather Humphreys gives it welly as she rallies rural support \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Downey, chairman of Fine Gael<\/a>\u2019s agriculture and rural affairs committee, walks through his farmyard in Slane and points out the Knowth passage grave, the hill of Slane where St Patrick lit the paschal fire and the location of the Battle of the Boyne. \u201cYou can tell the history of the country standing here,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

There are 30 or 40 people here surrounded by corrugated iron and fields. They\u2019re from Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Meath. Everyone who isn\u2019t a politician, politician\u2019s aide or a journalist is a Fine Gael-supporting farmer. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time we\u2019ll have a farmer in the Park,\u201d says Downey. \u201cShe didn\u2019t make enough of that line yet, but she should.\u201d <\/p>\n

Someone from the campaign<\/a> explains to the gathered farmers that they should huddle behind Heather Humphreys<\/a> \u201cwhen the cameras are rolling\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gerard Meegan, a beef farmer from Termonfeckin, says that it\u2019s important that the derogation on nitrates, chemicals used to promote grass growth, isn\u2019t reduced. \u201cWe can only put out 170 kilos of nitrogen per hectare and they\u2019re proposing reducing that to 120, for water quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HeatherHeather Humphreys on a visit to the farm of Eddie Downey in Slane. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

Humphreys\u2019s younger brother, Monaghan farmer Bert Stewart, worries that trade deals with America could lead to food coming in that\u2019s produced to \u201ca different standard and a different price\u201d.<\/p>\n

Did he foresee his sister running for president? \u201cI didn\u2019t. No more than anyone here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he get nervous for her? \u201cI get a bit emotional sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would he like to be invited to the Aras? \u201cI\u2019ll go without being invited hopefully. I\u2019ll drop in visiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

All around, people are discussing the negative opinion polls<\/a>. Two other farmers, Joe and Brendan (they won\u2019t give their second names) recall how former presidential candidate Sean Gallagher looked like he had it made until the week before the election. \u201cI\u2019d be surprised if 40 per cent turn out,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

They are \u201cdiehard\u201d Humphreys supporters. \u201cShe represents the values of rural Ireland,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

David Drumm \u2013 \u201cthe farmer not the banker\u201d \u2013 says that he was \u201calarmed\u201d that Catherine Connolly asked the Department of Agriculture to suspend live cattle exports to Libya in 2020. <\/p>\n

Joe also worries about this. \u201cIf there\u2019s legislation needs to be signed off she could veto it and send it to the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s also against rural pursuits like coursing,\u201d says Brendan. <\/p>\n

\"16\/10\/202516\/10\/2025 – Signage for Heather Humphreys, Presidential Candidate during a visit to the farm of Eddie Downey, Former IFA President at Monknewtown, Slane. Photograph: Alan Betson \/ The Irish Times <\/p>\n

As we\u2019re talking Humphreys and her entourage arrive. She\u2019s wearing green wellies with her navy suit. She is, in fact, the only person here wearing wellies.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t need wellies here,\u201d says Brendan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very tidy,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe power-hosed it this morning,\u201d Eddie tells me later.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s quickly surrounded by people shaking her hand. \u201cYou have the place looking well,\u201d she says to Eddie. \u201cI could have worn the high-heeled shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eddie gives his tour, then those present look at some cows. \u201cI could still milk a cow,\u201d says Humphreys. \u201cI haven\u2019t done it in a long time but I could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a trip to the milking parlour (she doesn\u2019t have a go) there\u2019s an opportunity to respond to questions from a spread of photographers, camera-folk and reporters. She is combative about being sued by Paul Murphy, sanguine about the polls and passionate about a time she was in Singapore promoting \u201cIrish duck\u201d. <\/p>\n

Before the questions, Humphreys asks an aide if she should change out of the wellies. \u201cKeep them on,\u201d he says. So she does. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Downey, chairman of Fine Gael\u2019s agriculture and rural affairs committee, walks through his farmyard in Slane and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,13,14,553,6,555,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-127099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-fine-gael","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-heather-humphreys","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-presidential-election","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}