As the youth farming organisation Macra celebrates its 80th anniversary, a former president from Cavan says the group should remain apolitical. Thomas Duffy, a dairy farmer from Edenburt near Virginia, was president of Macra for two years until 2021. He praised the youth group, which currently has over 10,000 members for "evolving, growing and changing" over the past eight decades to still be relevant for young people from farming backgrounds.
Many new Macra groups started up during Covid as an outlet for young people during lockdowns. Monaghan Macra, in particular, he said, is going from strength to strength. Many young people have went on to lead other farm agencies, and have even entered politics because of the communication, debating and public speaking skills they learned as Macra members.
However, former president Thomas Duffy said Macra will never run candidates in political elections. Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show earlier he explained why this has been the way in Macra for the past 80 years and is not likely to change: "It's actually forbidden in our constitution," Mr Duffy explained, "We are a strictly apolitical organisation. Not a non-political organisation but, an apolitical one. Macra na Feirme always had, and always has, engaged with every single political party to advocate for the benefit of young people and I think we'd really lose something if we were to become a political entity in our own right. But, also," he added, "it's a place for people from different political values and political views to come together."
