Election concerns raised by 'stood down' Beef Plan National Committee [updated]

Several members of what was the Beef Plan Movement’s National Committee (a committee reportedly stood down by the association’s co-chairs yesterday – Saturday, January 4) have announced that they support a request from some county committees to defer county elections until “all concerns raised by the national committee have been adequately addressed”.

A number of members issued a response this evening, Saturday, January 4, to a statement earlier today from the organisation’s joint chairpersons, Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley, announcing that all committees and spokespersons are “stood down”.

These members (of the so-called National Committee) described the statement – which warned of “matters requiring investigation and possibly disciplinary action” – as a “cynical attempt to undermine its integrity”.

They also took issue with the manner in which they were informed of the announcement – through social and national media – describing this as “deeply regrettable”.

In a response tonight, a number of members of the “stood down” National Committee said: “A meeting of the Beef Plan Movement National Committee was held today at the organisations head offices in Portlaoise.”

The response highlighted that notice of the meeting had been sent to all members of the “stood down” committee on Sunday, December 29, while an invitation had also been sent to the co-chairs and to the national treasurer.

“The National Committee, which was democratically elected by the members of the organisation, has worked tirelessly on a voluntary basis since its formation resulting in what the National Committee considers to be a very successful first year.

“Demonstrations that highlighted the plight of beef farmers to a level that was not seen previously were organised,” the letter said.

A number of members of the “stood down” National Committee claimed that these demonstrations resulted in key achievements, including:

The Department of Agriculture recognising Beef Plan as an official farmer representative body;
The establishment of the Beef Market Taskforce;
The establishment of the first official beef producer organisations in the country; and
Beef Plan obtaining a seat on the National TB Forum.

Continuing, the response outlined:

“The National Committee considers it to be deeply regrettable that it has come to our attention through social and national media that there are allegations of a serious nature being levelled towards the committee.

“None of the [members of the] National Committee have been furnished with any details of these allegations.

“Rules of governance that have been adopted to facilitate the running of the organisation have not been adhered to regarding the manner in which these allegations and other matters are being dealt with,” the statement claimed.

It appears to the National Committee that this is a cynical attempt to undermine the integrity of this democratically elected committee, which has consistently raised concerns about multiple issues within the organisation over an extended period of time.

“At this time multiple county committees within Beef Plan have shared an opinion – to the National Committee – that pending county elections should be deferred until all concerns raised by the National Committee have been adequately addressed.

“The National Committee is in full support of this request to defer county elections at this time.”