Tim O’Leary the Deputy President of the IFA has announced that he is to run for the position of President of the association.
O’Leary who is currently undertaking the functions of the President made the announcement when he was speaking on Newstalk earlier today (November 26).
He said that the organisation has been around for a long time, there’s been many elections, many controversies and many challenging times.
“Nonetheless, we will manage this process.
“We’ve a very serious situation. We’ve problems and errors at national level and farmers reacted in an understandable manner.
“We still have a huge membership around the countryside. The fact that there are large farmer meetings as a result of this is a sign of the organisation working.
At every one of these meetings, farmers are expressing their anger, they obviously still have trust in the structures to propose their motions and interrogate their officers.
O’Leary said that farmers want to see a way through this controversy and that it’s not proper reporting to say there’s just anger.
“There’s a process in place where a new president will be elected and a whole load of structures will be in place to fix everything.
“It’s been very heartwarming to see the efforts and concern that the ordinary staff members [of the IFA] have put in to deal with this situation.
“With the review, Con Lucey will look at salary structure and look at methodologies at making it more transparent so that our members have confidence,” he said.
However, O’Leary said that he is cautious about putting names against numbers.
Speaking about the new Secretary General, O’Leary said that he will not earn €525,000 and that he will be benchmarked to the industry norm.