Tom Byrne: From radical activist to Wicklow farming leader
Current county chair Tom Byrne has been synonymous with Wicklow IFA for almost 40 years, here he tells reporter David Medcalf about life before and the future
Tom Byrne, Chairman of Wicklow IFA.
In the countryside above Aughrim lies the townland of Kilpipe, home of one of the sharpest minds in Wicklow agriculture. Tom Byrne is a rogue, an agitator, a home-spun character and a wit. He is also a serious thinker about all matters rural and about how farming ties in with the wider world. An hour in his lively company is sure to give visitors a slew of ideas to ponder on, along with the feeling that they have been entertained as well as enlightened.
Tom is proud to serve as the current chairman of County Wicklow Irish Farmers Association. He confides an unshakeable conviction that the association’s establishment was not keen to have him in that position when he was elected. Too radical. Too likely to bend the party line. Too damned stimulating. The dry policy statements issued in his name to the local press reveal nothing of the true nature of a man who represents his constituency with a warm honesty and a passion which can be alarming in its candour.
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