Connacht IFA county representatives were told at this week’s Executive Council that it is up to them to sort out their own house for the regional position.
The IFA’s Executive Council met last Tuesday (March 22) at IFA HQ in Bluebell, where the ongoing problems electing a Connacht representative were discussed. However, no solutions were found and it is understood that Connacht IFA must now solve the problem themselves.
Galway County Chairman, Pat Murphy, told Agriland that the IFA is leaving it up to the Connacht counties to sort out the stalemate.
“They’re giving it another week [to see can there be a solution among the counties] after that then I don’t know what will happen,” he said.
It is understood that the five candidates, Padraic Joyce (Mayo), Tom Turley (Galway), John O’Beirne (Roscommon), Eddie Davitt (Sligo) and Des McHugh (Leitrim) could be meeting in the next week to discuss the matter again.
Earlier this year, Sligo IFA submitted a possible solution to the Connacht IFA deadlock to National Council.
However, a source told Agriland that the IFA was “afraid that adopting the proposal could open a can of worms” – in that if that was the case for Connacht then every county could then nominate a candidate for IFA President.
As it stands, no candidate has met the criteria for the position and it seems no one is willing to pull out of the race and give their county signature to another.
After two nomination processes, the region has been left with five candidates meaning no county could back another.
Next week, the IFA Election Presidential debates come to a close and voting gets underway on Tuesday March 29, for the next President and Deputy President of the association.