IFA President John Bryan has spoken to the Japanese Ambassador to Ireland,
His Excellency Toshinao Urabe, and written to him on behalf of the Irish
farming community expressing sympathy to the Japanese people following the
devastation caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami.

The IFA President said the scale of the destruction meant a significant
number of farm families along the coastline in the north-east of the country
would have been badly affected.

For many years, IFA has enjoyed close working relations with the Japanese
farm organisation, Ja-Senchu, in relation to the WTO trade negotiations and
a delegation visited Ireland for bi-lateral talks in 2009 on the issue.

John Bryan said, “We are sure that Ja-Senchu, like everyone else in Japan,
is doing everything possible to assist in the relief efforts. In this
context and especially to support Japanese farm families impacted by this
great natural disaster, the Association has made a contribution to the
relief fund.”

Concluding, he said, “We hope and pray that the authorities quickly
stabilise the situation and start to rebuild the lives and homes of the
Japanese people affected by the catastrophe.”