Bill Carroll resigns from the Glanbia board

Bill Carroll has stepped down from the board of Glanbia. His resignation was formally announced to the stock exchange on Friday afternoon with a brief statement.

It was back in January 2014 when it emerged that the special investigations unit of the Department of Agriculture was investigating alleged quota regulation breaches of a Glanbia supplier.

It emerged that the quota in question was that of Clongowes Wood College farm, which had one of the largest herds in the country. In early 2013, they announced that they would discontinue their high-input winter milk system of production, with the 300-strong herd of Holstein cows to be sold at two dispersal sales. Those sales were postponed by an outbreak of TB on the farm, and instead took place that autumn.

This left Clongowes wood college with no cows and a huge quota. It is understood that an arrangement was agreed, where Bill Carroll would supply a herd for the farm, but ongoing TB restrictions on the Clongowes Wood college farm affected this plan.

The fact that it became public knowledge that Bill Carroll, the Glanbia board member for South Tipperary, was the farmer involved was a cause of concern.

This concern was elevated when Martin Ferris questioned Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney on the investigation’s progress in the Dáil last month. Coveney confirmed that the advice of his Department was that a prosecution was “not warranted in this instance”. He also stated that all superlevies due had been paid in full.

Contrast

In reality, it was almost inevitable that Bill Carroll would step down at some point.The instant resignation of Carbery and Lisavaird co-op chairman Donal Tobin, following a controversy around the allocation of temporary quota back in March, was contrasted by some with the Glanbia situation.

It was felt that having any whiff of controversy around the boardroom of a company with Glanbia’s global profile was an unnecessary and unjustifiable risk.

At all times, Bill Carroll has declared his innocence of deliberate wrongdoing of any kind. There is considerable sympathy for Carroll on a personal level, but the general reaction has been that it was appropriate that he step down.