Farmers will learn of Minister Calleary’s resignation with something approaching disbelief, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Pat McCormack has said.

The ICMSA has said it is unacceptable that the state’s biggest indigenous economic activity was without cabinet representation and that the situation must be rectified immediately.

McCormack said: “It is difficult to remember a time when there was more pressing issues for a Minister with such a key role in farming, food production, Brexit and the environment to address.”

The ICMSA president has also called for a new Minister to be appointed immediately.

“The appointment must reflect the importance of the farming and food sector as the economic engine of most of the state outside the cities,” McCormack concluded.

Oireachtas event

The Minister resigned on Friday morning after it emerged on Thursday that he had attended an event in the west of Ireland earlier in the week where more than 80 people were present.

Minister Calleary attended an Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden, Co Galway, on Wednesday, the day after the Government issued new COVID-19 guidelines.

The now former Minister for Agriculture was in office for 38 days, after he was appointed to the role on 15 July.

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