Joe Ryan is to depart Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the Irish Farmers Journal can exclusively reveal.

Ryan recently took over the leadership of the meat industry lobby group, but is to leave the organisation to join the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

A UCD agricultural science graduate, Ryan had worked as director with MII since 2014 and succeeded long-serving senior director Cormac Healy just last month. Healy left MII to join Drinks Ireland.

The loss of Ryan so soon after Healy’s departure is a serious blow for MII and comes at a time of significant headwinds for the meat industry.

Challenges

While exports last year across beef, lamb, poultry and pigmeat topped €4.5bn, the sector is facing multiple challenges.

These include continuing losses in the pig sector, which is seriously threatening the viability of the country’s producers.

Brexit and the ongoing differences on the Northern Ireland protocol are also worrying, given that beef exports to the UK market were worth €880m last year and accounted for 42% of total beef sales.

Low incomes among drystock farmers, the hike in input costs, the threat posed by environmental challenges and the rise in vegan diets are among the other issues that MII and farmers will have to address.