Nominations fight for IFA deputy president and regional chairs heats up

Nominations for the positions of deputy president and regional chairs opened on Friday last week, following a dramatic day of nomination closures for IFA president the previous Wednesday.

A meeting of the IFA’s Kilkenny county executive on Monday night saw the membership united in wishing to move on from the recent scandals that have dogged the organisation.

As expected, the recent events in the IFA, especially the outcomes of this month’s national council meeting, were high on the agenda.

Developments

Kilkenny chair John Bambrick said that just under 100 members turned up at the meeting, with these members in agreement on three main developments of the night.

The first development was that the association should move forward from the recent scandals that have dogged the organisation and accept the outcomes of the last council meeting on 5 January.

For this reason, the second development was that the membership withdrew their motions of no confidence in the board and in Jer Bergin, the outgoing national treasurer and returning officer. Both of these motions were put forward at Kilkenny’s last county executive meeting, which took place before the national council meeting on 5 January.

The third development was that they unanimously nominated Kilkenny native and incumbent regional chair for south Leinster James Murphy to be re-elected to this position.

No nomination was made for the position of deputy president at the meeting. It is understood that Murphy does not want to be considered for the position until outgoing deputy president Tim O’Leary has decided if he will stand for re-election. O’Leary was disappointed in his bid to run in the IFA presidential race last week, as he did not secure the required number of county nominations.

Should O’Leary decide not to stand, Murphy has been asked to run for deputy.

Bambrick said he would convene a meeting of Kilkenny executive at short notice should it want to make this nomination.

Declined nomination

The IFA Wexford county executive also held a meeting on Monday night. Tom Doyle, the current IFA farm business chair, was asked to run for deputy president but he declined the nomination.

Wexford also passed a motion that reflects the legacy of the pay scandals which rocked the organisation in November and December last year.

The motion proposed that the national returning officer should not be from the same county as one of the candidates for national election. One of the candidates currently running for president, Henry Burns, is from Co Laois, as is Jer Bergin, the outgoing national returning officer.

There was no implication on the night that the membership feared impropriety on the part of the returning officer, but following recent events it was felt appropriate that the election process be visibly transparent and independent.

Two nominations for Galway

Events took an interesting turn in Galway on the same night when incumbent Connacht chair Tom Turley was challenged for the Galway nomination for this position by another Galway native, Bertie Roche. Roche is currently a member of the IFA environment committee.

Galway IFA chair Pat Murphy said it was a “surprise” that Turley was challenged and that Galway will be voting on who it will nominate in approximately 10 days. The rules require the Connacht candidate to get the backing of his or her own county, as well as one other from the province.

As the Dealer reported this week, the biggest fight for the position of regional chair at the moment appears to be in the west, with current Mayo IFA county chair Padraic Joyce and former Roscommon chair John O’Beirne also understood to be interested in the position.

Cavan backs Bert Stewart

James Speares, county chair for Cavan, also confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that a meeting of the county's executive in the Kilmore Hotel last night saw support for the re-election of outgoing Ulster/north Leinster chairman Bert Stewart. To be eligible to run for the position of Munster, South Leinster or Ulster/north Leinster chairman, the candidate must have the signed support their own county and two chairmen of other county executives in the region. Stewart already has the backing of his own county executive, Monaghan, so he now needs just one more nomination from a county in the region to become a candidate. There is currently no other person running for this position.

The Cavan membership were also reported to have been disappointed that Derek Deane did not make the position of a candidate in the upcoming IFA presidential election. Cavan was one the five counties that nominated Deane, but Deane failed to secure the necessary sixth nomination by the closing period. Deane, however, is contesting his failed bid.

Additional reporting by Pat O'Toole and Odile Evans

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