The co-founders of the Beef Plan Movement, Eamon Corley and Hugh Doyle, hosted a meeting last Thursday (May 6) which they described as an AGM for the organisation.
As part of the almost 18 month-long Beef Plan Movement split, Corley, Doyle and a number of directors of the association have been seeking to have themselves recognised as an official farmer representative organisation.
According to a statement on behalf of the co-founders, elections were held at last week’s meeting to fill positions on seven “national subcommittees”.
The statement also says that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue had recently communicated with the directors, outlining a “checklist” of issues to be attended to before they would be recognised as an official farmer representative organisation.
This “checklist” included: establishing a legal entity; holding an inaugural AGM; and establishing rules and governance that have been agreed by a paid membership.
The statement says that “all boxes have been ticked on the checklist” and that Minister McConalogue would be informed of this for his approval.
The statement also notes that “it was reported [at the AGM] that over 1,000 members have already registered” with the organisation.
Beef Plan split
Due to the split in the Beef Plan Movement that began in January 2020, it is likely that a number of people who consider themselves to be members of the group would not have regarded last week’s meeting as an ‘AGM’.
Currently, the Beef Plan Movement has a berth on the Beef Market Taskforce.
However, that berth is filled by Dermot O’ Brien and Enda Fingleton, neither of whom are aligned with Doyle and Corley.
A meeting is scheduled to take place this Saturday (May 15) among members who are aligned with O’Brien and Fingleton, as well as Eoin Donnelly and Alan O’Brien.
The organisers of this upcoming meeting have also used the term ‘AGM’ to describe it.
Announcing the meeting in January, a statement from the organisers said: “An open invitation will be issued… to all farmers who consider themselves to be members of the association.”
It is also understood that the meeting will vote to “rebrand”. A shortlist of names for the organisation has been compiled and notified to the Department of Agriculture, according to sources.