James Reynolds is a farmer who served as chairman of the Longford branch of the Irish Farmers' Association from 1999 to 2003. He was then the treasurer of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association until 2017. He co-founded the National Party in 2016 with Justin Barrett.

The issue of mass-immigration is a European-wide issue. The EU’s weak policy on immigration has generated righteous anger across the continent, with nationalist parties and candidates predicted to increase their representation dramatically in these elections. The mass-immigration crisis has compounded the housing crisis.

We need a reform of the EU as a trading and cooperation bloc of sovereign nation states. This must include a respect for countries to set their own immigration policy, including a right to refuse entry and deport asylum seekers without hindrance from Brussels.

It’s likely that new groups will be formed in the aftermath of the European Parliament elections. Opinion polls predict that Nationalist parties are likely to have a far greater representation in the next Parliament. We already have links with parties which are member of the Identity and Democracy group, and we would hope to continue to build on these connections after the elections.

I am contesting this election on a radical platform of saving rural Ireland. Issues like the EU Nature Restoration Law, which all our current crop of MEPs currently support, present existential dangers to the rural way of life. I am the only full-time farmer contesting this election, and have considerable experience advocating on behalf of farmers and their interests over the past three decades.

In addition to my farming expertise, I am also a staunch Irish nationalist and believe passionately that Ireland should be an independent nation-state which puts our own people’s interests first. I campaigned against the Nice, Lisbon and Fiscal Compact Treaties because of my firm belief in the right of the Irish nation to be free. I bring a considerable degree of experience to the table and am ready to be a strong voice for Ireland in the European Parliament.