Dermot Kelleher has been elected the new president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), beating out Sean McNamara in the two-horse race.

The election of Kelleher follows weeks of online hustings. Due to Covid-19, the election process was changed to a postal ballot of ICSA National Executive members.

The result of the vote was announced at an online conference of the National Executive this evening (Thursday, December 17).

Both candidates have a long track record in the association. Kelleher (from Co. Cork) is the current ICSA Munster vice-president and McNamara (from Co. Westmeath) is the current ICSA sheep chairperson.

Speaking after his win, Kelleher told AgriLand that he would work closely with outgoing president Edmond Phelan and other ranking members of the association when he takes office, saying he would make use of the experience of other members.

He added that “the biggest thing we need is a regulator” for the beef sector “for some bit of control over the thing”.

Kelleher will take the reins of the ICSA at its AGM in January, at which time Phelan will step down from what has been a brief but eventful tenure in office.

Beef Market Taskforce

With less then two months before his term ends, Phelan represented the ICSA as president for what will probably be the last time on the Beef Market Taskforce today (Thursday, December 17).

The meeting saw members discuss a draft report by Grant Thornton into market and customer requirements relating to in-spec bonuses.

Phelan said he was “extremely disappointed with the report”, arguing: “The report does not provide any evidence of independent measurement of consumer preferences in any market.

“Instead, we are asked to believe a limited overview of interviews with stakeholders, predominantly in the UK, who are scrambling to find varied dubious justifications for maintaining the 30 months and ‘4 residencies’ penalties,” the outgoing president added.