MATT Dempsey, former editor of the Irish Farmers Journal and former chair of the RDS and Kildare Hunt, has been nominated to contest the Seanad Eireann election, which will take place by postal ballot from January 15th.

Dempsey has been nominated by the RDS to contest for one of 11 Seanad seats on the Agricultural panel.

“I am deeply honoured to have been nominated by the RDS to contest the upcoming Seanad elections,” Dempsey said.

“Seanad Eireann is an important part of our legislative framework. It provides opportunities to speak out on critical issues and have an input into laws and policies that affect people’s lives. These issues include rural as well as urban housing, the threats to foreign direct investment in a rapidly changing world and a loss of competitiveness if we don’t keep pace with scientific and technological developments.

“We must support our indigenous enterprise sectors and, of these, farming and food production is by far our biggest sector. It underpins massive exports and tens of thousands of jobs and widely distributed economic activity right across the country.”

Dempsey is a farmer and agriculturalist and was editor of the Irish Farmers Journal for 25 years, as well as CEO and chair of the Agricultural Trust, owner of The Irish Field. He retired as chair of the Trust last year.

He has been a life-long supporter of research and funding for sciences and innovation. He was chairman of the two organisations that formed Teagasc, as well as chairman of the Irish National Stud and the National Gallery of Ireland among many other board positions. He is also a former president of the RDS and served as chairman of the Kildare Hunt from 2004 to 2009.