A cohort of officers of the Kerry branch of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) wants a disciplinary process being conducted against some of its members halted. At a meeting held last Friday, they called for talks within the county instead.

The understanding is that the meeting was not an official IFA meeting, as it was not called by a person properly authorised to do so. It was still a significant meeting, as nine of the county officers and county committee chairs were present.

The minutes of the meeting relay the frustration of those present that an official officers' meeting had not been held, stating that the county chair had refused to engage on the issue “over many months”.

Concern was also expressed over the fact that four officers' positions are currently unfilled.

Some policy issues were discussed, before the meeting moved on to the controversial investigation into a complaint made by a county officer against fellow officers.

Sanction

Kerry IFA dairy chair Michael O’Dowd has revealed that he faces possible sanction on foot of the ongoing investigation.

He says that he is to be barred from holding an officer position within IFA for a period of four years. There is understood to be provision to review the decision after two years.

Last Friday’s meeting proposed that this issue should be taken from the agenda of the next IFA national council meeting “to see if a solution can be found within the county and will unite the county executive to come behind the county chair”.

This request was forwarded to IFA headquarters, with a response requested before Tuesday evening (11 October) next.

Background

In July, it emerged that a formal complaint had been lodged by a member of Kerry IFA alleging misconduct by fellow officers.

Some Kerry officers said they had received a text specifying that the complaint related to “certain matters arising from the activities of the Kerry county IFA executive”.

The Irish Farmers Journal quoted Kerry IFA chair Kenny Jones as saying that there would be no comment other than to confirm an investigation was under way, so as not to prejudice that investigation.

As the weeks went by, the story grew. We learned that the IFA, through its rules and privileges committee, had entrusted the investigation to an outside consultant, Gerard Dollard.

Over time, it has become public knowledge who the three people the complaint was made against are. One of them, Michael O’Dowd, is to have a formal sanction proposed against him on foot of the investigation.

We know this because O’Dowd himself has revealed this. While it is also common knowledge who the complainant is, it has never been confirmed publicly.

Analysis

Michael O’Dowd and the others are unlucky in one sense. This is the first instance (to my knowledge) of allegations of bad behaviour across social media or private communications channels within the IFA leading to a formal investigation.

In this regard, the IFA is no more or less vulnerable than any other organisation. And not just farm organisations, any organisation.

In some ways, the IFA is comparable to the GAA - a national organisation, operating at a parish level, mostly run by an army of volunteers. These volunteers communicate in a bewildering range of Facebook, Whatsapp and text groups.

Poor standards of conduct across many such platforms have become a constant risk. Facebook and Twitter have frequently been reduced to little more than cesspits of human interaction.

WhatsApp groups can be visited by inappropriate comments, images, jokes and videos.

It’s understood in this case that the messages were private and not viewed by third parties, but it’s fair to say many of us have been desensitised to what is appropriate and what is not across such communication channels.

Communications

If individuals have sent messages which could possibly be regarded as inappropriate across public or private forums, they won’t be the first to have done so.

But this is the first instance within the IFA of disciplinary action being considered regarding such communications.

The first time a person has been pulled for it, and had a punishment proposed for it, certainly in the IFA, and perhaps across all of Ireland’s voluntary organisations. That is hard to take.

It’s a little like drinking and driving - there was a time when many people did it, and only a few were caught. Over time, it has been recognised that it is never OK to do so.

We need to go on a journey in relation to social media interaction, even when it is a private communication between just two people.

No-win situation

For the IFA’s part, it is in a no-win situation. Once a formal complaint was brought to it, it had to take some form of action.

By engaging an outside investigator, it is open to the accusation of weakness, of kicking the problem to a third party.

Had it dealt with it in-house, it would probably have been accused of bias, of siding with the county chair against some people critical of the organisation's leadership.

And critical some Kerry officers have been. Michael O’Dowd called for the resignation of deputy president Brian Rushe earlier this year.

O’Dowd holds that Rushe did not progress a complaint he had made around the placement by Teagasc of Green Cert students.

This complaint was raised when Rushe attended a Kerry executive meeting in 2021. We printed a considered letter on this issue from O’Dowd in May.

When Rushe earlier attended a Kerry IFA executive, the exchanges were more robust, according to those present.

In April, we reported that Kerry IFA officers and members had expressed unhappiness with pay or remuneration rises announced for the IFA president, deputy president and director Damian McDonald.

We quoted county chair Kenny Jones as saying that the executive had “practically unanimously” called on national council to reverse that decision. Kerry was not unique in this regard - similar motions were passed by the north Cork and Donegal executives.

Huge Kerry IFA membership

To put Kerry IFA in a national context, it is one of only two counties that has a second delegate to the national council of the organisation.

This special privilege is awarded to Kerry and Galway in recognition of the level of membership in those counties.

For those unfamiliar with the IFA’s structure, it should be pointed out that Cork is divided into three separate regions (north, central and west), while Tipperary is split between north and south.

The fact remains that Kerry is of immense significance to the IFA nationally. And on Friday night, nine of the county officers met to discuss the depth of division in the county.

Michael O’ Dowd has publicly stated that he will fight the proposed sanction. One of the other two people cited in the investigation, the Kerry IFA vice-chair and sheep farmer John Joe Fitzgerald, resigned in August and in recent days has stated his intention to become active in the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA).

This accounts for one of the vacancies within the Kerry officers referenced at last Friday’s meeting.

There has been no confirmation from the IFA that any individual has been shown to have engaged in any wrongdoing.

That said, it may be too late to pull these matters back into Kerry, as much as the people who attended Friday’s meeting would like that to happen.

The hope was expressed that the officers can unite behind the county chair. That surely is everyone’s hope, but it looks like it may be too late to stop the investigation from reaching its conclusion.