EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, has promoted Kevin Keary to full membership status on his cabinet, a spokesperson for the commissioner has confirmed to AgriLand.

Up until now, Keary – from Mountbellew, Co. Galway – had served as a policy advisor for Hogan, since his appointment as commissioner in 2014.

In his duties as policy advisor, he covered responsibilities in a range of areas, including: communications; co-ordination for the EU Agricultural Council; relations with other institutions; food supply chain; and generational renewal.

Keary previously served as parliamentary assistant to MEP Sean Kelly. He received his BA International in Spanish and Sociological Political Studies from NUI Galway.

The spokesman also confirmed that Keary’s appointment comes following Shane Sutherland’s move to the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy.

He is the son of the late Peter Sutherland, former European commissioner and attorney general, who passed away just last Sunday (January 7) after a lengthy battle with illness.

Shane Sutherland previously worked with former Irish EU commissioners Maire Geoghegan Quinn and Charlie McCreevey, who served as commissioners from 2010 to 2014 and 2004 to 2010, respectively.

Commissioner Hogan himself has been busy of late, following the recent publication of the EU’s highly-anticipated White Paper on ‘The Future of Food and Farming’.

The paper, presented by Hogan in Brussels late last year, outlines guidelines on a new-look policy that will provide for “simpler rules and a more flexible approach“.