Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has become the interesting side-story to the Fine Gael leadership debate.

The Cork TD has refused to publicly declare his support for either Simon or Leo. As you may have read elsewhere, Leo Varadkar thinks Creed has done a good job. Well he’s the latest senior ag figure to want Creed to stay in Ag House. On Friday, speaking at its milk quality awards, Dairygold chair James Lynch said he hopes Creed will not be moved. “I sincerely hope that we’ll be working with you as Minister in the Department of Agriculture for the remainder of 2017 and far beyond. Your commitment to and knowledge of our sector makes you a huge asset to the industry,” Lynch said, which was met with applause.

Former Dairygold chair Vincent Buckley recently retired from the general committee. A vote to fill the vacancy was held on Tuesday. Fintan McSweeney from Donoughmore defeated John Aherne. The 32-year-old dairy farmer won 23 votes to nine.