Thousands turn out to pay respects to late Joe Bruton

Six years ago, Joe Bruton, farmers" activist and agricultural columnist, turned his hand to poetry. The occasion was the 100th birthday of his friend, Dr Alice Murnane from Dunsany. The Murnane family had chosen Joe to present the President"s cheque to their mother. 'Alice, when you were 90, I burst into song, I wondered could I ever last out so long,' he wrote to the retired doctor. Mr Bruton did last to 90, and had almost caught up on Alice Murnane"s centenary when he died last Friday, three days before he was due to celebrate his own 100th birthday. It was a death which came quicker than had been expected, even though he was of such a vintage. A family gathering planned for his birthday had earlier been postponed as he wasn"t going to be up to it. In 2005, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Irish Farmers" Association (IFA), founded as the National Farmers" Association (NFA), Joe Bruton and his late wife, Doris, spoke to the Meath Chronicle. Pride of place on the wall of their study at Newtown, Dunboyne, was a certificate presented to him in 1991, on the 25th anniversary of the 1966 Farmers" Rights March to Dublin. He was a member of the national council of the NFA at the time. 'The main issues at the time were the problems being encountered by farmers selling their products,' he explained. The farmers wanted the right to negotiate with government and with the purchasers of farm products, and 30,000 farmers descended on Government Buildings in October 1966. The then agriculture minister was Charles Haughey, who refused to meet with the farmers, and a 20-day sit-down protest began outside Government Buildings. Joe Bruton admitted he didn"t do too much sitting down on the steps. 'There wouldn"t have been room for everybody,' he laughed. Nine farmers began the sit-out. He had a great admiration for the then NFA leader, Rickard Deasy, and was in charge of the blocking of the five bridges over the Boyne during the blockades at the time, only escaping arrest because he was travelling between bridges when the Gardai arrived to remove farmers. Those few years ago, Joe Bruton was still farming about two-thirds of his farm at Newtown, with the rest of it leased out. His father, Matthew, who had a number of farms in the Dunboyne area, gave it to him on his 21st birthday. 'He was a man with an extraordinary capacity to know cattle,' Joe explained. 'He could look over hedges at cattle in the area, and would be able to say they were bought in Ballinasloe. And he knew each individually.' The Brutons had a holding at Millfarm, in Dunboyne village beside the railway bridge, and from here cattle would be walked to the Smithfield Market in Dublin, starting about 2am or 3am in the morning. 'The cattle would be brought in from the outlying farms and, when they were all together, they would walk in to Dublin, no problem, at a slow pace, almost in single file. And it gave the men with them a chance to chat and catch up.' Joe Bruton was born at his mother"s family home on Conyngham Road in Dublin, just beside the Phoenix Park, and vividly recalled episodes such as the Black and Tans in their Crossley tenders patrolling the area. He commissioned the Mullaly Brothers, builders from Dunboyne, to build his present home around 1941/"42. 'When he was contemplating marriage,' interjected his wife. It was the Bruton"s heifer herd that was kept, and still is, at Newtown, and Joe became active in the NFA when it was founded. He also enjoyed writing. 'I wrote an article on a farming issue for the Farmer"s Journal, and they asked me to continue contributing.' It was the start of a 25-year columnist career with the Journal that ended when his sons became more politically active. 'The Journal was non-party political, and when our two sons, John and Richard, went into politics, I had to give it up. If I had wrote it was a fine day, someone would read a meaning into it.' His NFA and IFA involvement saw him travelling to Brussels a lot. In his youth, he and his cousins often travelled to the continent on trips like 'Italy on £10", and this put him in good stead for later Brussels visits. When he was young, he had also spent some time in Italy due to ill-health, and had taught himself French there. Many years later, he would surprise his colleagues on a study group touring cattle farms in Normandy by adopting the role of interpreter. One of them reported afterwards that: 'Joe Bruton spoke French with a broad Meath accent and they understood every word he said.' He also had a knowledge of German. His main area of interest during his time with the association was in pursuing livestock issues. He also spent a period as chairman of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, as his family were big exporters of cattle. Mr Bruton was also a former president of the Grassland and Animal Production Association, the Agricultural Economics Society and the Irish Beekeepers" Association. He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society and president of its agriculture committee. Locally, he was a former Civil Defence warden. Mr Bruton was one of the first to adopt the 'topless cubicles" developed at the Grange farm in Kiltale. Speaking at his removal to the Church of Ss Peter and Paul, Dunboyne, on Sunday evening, curate Fr Mark English told the Bruton family: 'Fifty years ago, Joe was very much involved with the building of our parish church, so it is good that we should take him back here this evening, that he may be part of the parish mission which began today in celebration of the golden jubilee for Ss Peter and Paul"s. 'That"s half a century ago; tomorrow, Joe would have reached a full century of life. We can only imagine the joys and sorrows and so much more clocked into 100 years. But what we can say this evening as family, friends and fellow parishioners of Joe Bruton, is that he was a blessed man in life. May you his grandchildren and all of us, the younger generation, never forget the daily sacrifices and the contribution the people of his generation have make for our society.' Fr English said he knew that Joe used to head off down the farmyard to do his daily jobs whistling, perhaps in tune with God and nature. 'In all he did, Joe earned the respect of many near and far. But it was at home with you, Mary, John and Richard, that your father sowed the seeds of leadership as he provided and encouraged you in love to stand up and make a difference for others in the community. Until recently, your dear mother was constantly by his side and now a short few years later we pray they are united again with God where parting is no more.' The exceptionally large attendance at Sunday evening"s removal included the ADC to President McAleese, Capt Michael Larkin; the Fine Gael leade, Enda Kenny, and a host of past and present Fine Gael TDs and political representatives. The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, was among the attendance as was ICTU general secretary, David Begg; and the Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith. It took mourners two hours to file through the church and sympathise with the family such was the size of the congregation. The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, was represented by his ADC, Comdt Michael Treacy, at Monday"s funeral, where the attendance included former taoiseach, Garret Fitzgerald, and the IFA leader, Padraig Walshe. Colonel Declan Carberry represented President McAleese. Mr Bruton, who died in Marymount Care Centre, Westmanstown, Co Dublin, was predeceased by his wife, Doris, in 2006. He is survived by his sons, John, the EU"s Ambassador to Washington, and Richard, the Fine Gael Spokesperson of Finance; daughter, Mary; sister, Kattie Fay; daughters-in-law, Finola and Susan; eight grandchildren, nephews, nieces, sisters-in-law and other relatives. The funeral Mass, celebrated by Monsignor Dermot Farrell, PP, Dunboyne, was followed by burial in Rooske Cemetery.