In what is a first in ICSA history, two men have agreed to a presidential power-sharing agreement for the leadership of the organisation.

The move follows a dead heat at last Wednesday night’s presidential ballot between west Cork suckler farmer Dermot Kelleher, who has led the ICSA for the past two years, and his challenger, Seán McNamara, a sheep, suckler and beef farmer from Lismacaffrey, Co Westmeath.

Following the historic agreement, Kelleher will stay as president for 2023 and McNamara will take over the office in 2024. McNamara will also assume a position on the ICSA’s management committee in the new year. Both men gathered 31 votes each from the national executive when voting took place in Portlaoise last week.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on the night, general secretary of the ICSA Eddie Punch was pleased with the outcome and said that the new arrangement will leave the ICSA “much stronger”.

“They will work together for the better of farmers and the association, and I think it’s the best possible outcome.

“I think it’s a first in agricultural political history to share power, but we’ve seen it in the Government of the country and it can work,” he said.

Kelleher and McNamara met with Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue last Thursday morning to set out a series of proposals for substantial funding to be provided for active farmers in the beef, suckler, and sheep sectors in order to help them deliver what they called “win-win solutions” on climate change.

During the meeting, Kelleher insisted that all farmers who applied to ACRES should be accepted straight away.

“No farmer who applied to participate in ACRES should be refused a place. It makes no sense whatsoever to exclude 16,000 farmers who are chomping at the bit to get on with meeting our climate goals,” he said.

Both candidates received 31 votes each.

The ICSA delegation also proposed additional supports of €80m for store and beef producers, €60m for suckler producers and €50m for the sheep sector, along with €50m for red clover reseeding.

In addition, money will be needed to offset the cost to farmers of methane-reducing feed additives and overall, which ICSA estimates will cost €250m per annum for the next seven years.

Seán McNamara

“My short-term priority is to get a viable living for all farm families and my long-term priorities are to encourage more young people to get into farming and I’ll ensure they have a viable living from it.

“The buy-out suckler scheme is a total joke as far as I’m concerned. €1,350 over four years isn’t worth a damn – it’d want to be at least €1,350 a year, never mind over the four years. If the Government wants climate action, let them put their money where their mouth is. If they want to rewet the bogs or whatever they want, let them put money towards doing it.”

Dogs

“There should be serious fines for [those with out of control dogs]. If you fine them enough, they’ll soon keep their dogs under control. I had 40 sheep killed myself a few years ago. I know Minister Humphreys is talking about doing it now, but it’s easy do something when you are late.”

Dermot Kelleher

“Farmers need to be able to talk to ministers and people inventing schemes. We can’t be outvoted, outrun and outshouted by NGOs. By the same token, I believe that food production is very important.

“There will be a viable living in sucklers, sheep and beef if everyone gets their fair share, but everyone has to play their part and processors will have to respect the supplier.

“In relation to these suckler cull schemes being proposed, there’s nothing set in stone yet. The suckler herd is not for sale to make room for dairy cows or more fossil fuels, not for any money.

“If they want to bring in a reduction scheme and make room for doing other things, we can discuss that.

“There’s a lot of suckler and sheep farmers depending on it to keep the lights on, as many parts of Ireland are not fit for dairying and tillage.

“I don’t think that any money would get rid of our suckler herd, no amount of money will get rid of our suckler herd and we would never agree to that.”