Margaret Donnelly: 'Leo tries to squash the beef - but talk of emission cuts hard to stomach'

A week is a lifetime in politics, they say, and a lot has changed in the past three years for the IFA.
Back then, the association was still reeling from a pay scandal, we had a rural Taoiseach running the country and Brexit was a still a distant improbability.
Yesterday, there wasn't as much as a whisper about money, namely the IFA accounts, during lunch at its AGM.
Senior IFA members instead, while mulling over the lunch choice in the Farm Centre's canteen of bacon, chicken and beef in the form of cottage pie, were more interested in what the 'I'm trying to eat less meat' Taoiseach might say or do when he addressed them at dinner that evening.
After all, the dinner was always going to have beef.
IFA president Joe Healy had spoken earlier in the day of 'loose commentary' of late, no doubt meaning the Taoiseach's recent statement that he was planning on reducing the amount of meat he eats.
The Taoiseach could eat what he liked, Mr Healy said, but he should continue to show support for the top quality products the Irish agri-sector had to offer.
"We won't be driven off the land by keyboard warriors, quacks or lifestyle gurus," Mr Healy said.