National Party leader James Reynolds has recently announced his candidacy for the European Parliamentary elections in the Midlands-North-West Constituency.
Reynolds is leader of the party which will also be fielding Patrick Quinlan in the Dublin constituency for the European Parliament. The National Party also have local election candidate Ross Culligan running in the Tuam electoral area.
As a full-time suckler and sheep farmer and long-standing campaigner in farming politics, James Reynolds is recognised throughout Ireland as an advocate of the interests of farm families.
“Rural Ireland is currently under attack by the EU Green Deal and its backers from all of the main political parties including all 13 outgoing Irish MEPs who disgracefully voted in favour of the EU Nature Restoration Law, which insists on the re-wetting of approximately 300,000 hectares of drained agricultural land and the designating of huge swathes of farmland as ‘protected’ from human usage for food production,” he said.
Reynolds further demands that the decision to re-wet bogs must be reversed and the crucial peat burning power stations of Lanesborough and Shannonbridge should be brought back into operation.
Mr Reynolds is also totally opposed to the EU ban on family turf cutting for the heating of homes and he also opposes SAC designations by the EU that criminalises traditional rural practices.
“As an MEP, I would act to fully restore turf cutting rights,” he said.
James Reynolds also demands the immediate end to government plans in the name of the so called ‘National Climate Strategy’, to slash the national suckler herd by the withdrawal of supports for the suckler sector and to directly cull 200,000 dairy cows over three years.
James Reynolds has a long history in farming politics, representing the farming community. He was elected as the youngest ever chairman of the Longford county executive of the Irish Farmers Association in 1999.
