MEMBERS OF the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association meet in Limerick later today to elect a president for the next four years.
The contest for the top job is a two-way fight between the current president, Jackie Cahill, and Pat O’Rourke, who was president four years ago.
The decision will be made in the Castletroy Park Hotel by the 99 delegates who make up the national council of the organisation.
There has been intensive campaigning between the two rivals. The emergence of Mr O’Rourke to challenge the sitting president came as a shock to many observers.
Mr O’Rourke, a Longford-based dairy farmer, appeared to have moved away from farming politics after stepping down, and had unsucessfully sought a Fianna Fáil nomination for the recent European elections.
His recent bid for the post generated a great deal of excitement in the association, which is headquartered in Limerick and represents dairy farmers.
Mr Cahill, a Tipperary-based dairy farmer, has held the presidency for four years and the expectation had been he would continue in the post for at least another two years.
The contest takes place as the race for the presidency of the Irish Farmers’ Association finished, with the ballot of members closing last night. The 947 IFA branches have been voting to select their new leader since December 1st. The votes will be counted on Monday, December 21st, at Dublin’s Citywest Hotel. A result should be known by early afternoon.
Three candidates are seeking to replace the outgoing president, Pádraig Walshe, who has held the post for four years. They are John Bryan, a beef farmer from Co Kilkenny, deputy president of the organisation, Derek Deane, and Limerick-based Richard Kennedy, who is chairman of the organisation’s national dairy committee and runs a dairy farm.