Wexford’s Alice Doyle will take over as deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) at the association’s AGM in January 2024.

A total of 29,598 total ballots were cast in the deputy presidential election, with a valid poll of 29,470.

Alice Doyle received 16,502 votes compared with her opponent Pat Murphy's 12,968 votes.

Doyle will succeed Brian Rushe, who has been at the mantle for the last four years.

Previously a primary school principal, Doyle has also been farming in partnership with her husband on their beef and tillage farm for the last 30 years.

Similar to the presidential race, there were just two candidates in the running.

Nose in front

As counting got under way on Tuesday morning, Doyle got her nose in front of her opponent early into proceedings.

By 11am, after just three hours of counting, Doyle had garnered 4,235 votes compared with Murphy’s 3,732. At this point, nearly 30% of IFA branches had been counted.

By 3pm, both Doyle and Francie Gorman, who won the presidential race, had broken the 10,000-vote mark and were well ahead of their respective opponents.

This race proved not as tight as the presidential race, with 3,534 votes between Doyle and Murphy, compared with 3,489 between Gorman and Stapleton when the final count was announced.

Doyle won the majority of votes in Munster and north Leinster, while Murphy had the majority share in the west and northwest, bar Donegal.

Doyle is the first female to be elected deputy president of the IFA and described it as a great day for "mná na feirme".