Those who marched in the 1966 farmers’ rights march and the families who backed them were acknowledged this week, with IFA president Joe Healy unveiling a plaque in commemoration of the event.

“Since I got elected, this is the proudest day I’ve had in my six months as president,” Healy told the crowd at the 50th anniversary commemoration in Bantry on Thursday.

“When I got elected, it was a sense of relief – there wasn’t a lump in my throat or the hairs standing up on the back of my neck then, unlike I had today when I met those who walked. I was thrilled to meet those involved. Hearing them, it was like it was only last week – the memories are as strong now as they were during the walk. We hear of the men who walked to Dublin but their families and neighbours left behind kept the home flames burning, and we can never forget those. The members who left not knowing what lay ahead or whether they’d get support. It was a different era entirely – we can only imagine what it was like”.

West Cork IFA chair Cornie Buckley commended the commitment shown by the marchers in what was a major turning point for farmers.

“They created a momentum that made the Government realise that farmers were serious about representation and negotiation.”

Sean Holland from Coomhola, one of those who left Bantry, was one of the nine who sat on the steps of the Department of Agriculture for three weeks in protest at the refusal of then Agriculture Minister Charlie Haughey to meet the farmers. Holland’s grandson Bernard Brady was there for the commemoration.

Ruaidhri Deasy, son of the NFA's president at the time Rickard Deasy, was present and brought his father’s famous biretta hat.

“It’s a very poignant day,” he said. “I look back 50 years and I realise now how and why they had support from the urban population in Dublin. It was only 53 years before Larkin and the workers were locked out in Dublin. Dad told me they were abhorred that the Government didn’t have the courtesy to have a meeting with them.”

Listen to Shane O'Brien read from his grandfather Sean O'Brien's diary of the march and Ruaidhri Deasy's memories in our podcast below:

Listen to "Commemorating the 1966 farmers' march in west Cork" on Spreaker.

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