The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has appointed a new livestock executive in the form of Tomas Bourke.

A long-time member of staff with the farming organisation, Bourke has also served as IFA Animal Health executive secretary.

Bourke sits on the Copa-Cogeca Animal Health and Welfare working party in Brussels.

He is also a member of the Animal Health Ireland (AHI) implementation groups for both bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) and Johne’s disease.

The officer will be replacing Kevin Kinsella who was one of seven IFA staff members who accepted the organisation’s voluntary early retirement scheme earlier this year.

IFA staff shake-up

Bourke will be a familiar face among a number of new ones in a shake-up of the IFA’s staff line-up.

Earlier this month, the IFA appointed Aine O’Connell as the association’s new dairy executive.

In her new role, O’Connell will work with the IFA’s National Dairy Committee and National Liquid Milk Committee and report to the director of policy / chief economist.

Meanwhile, the IFA also announced the appointment of Tadhg Buckley as its new director of policy / chief economist.

From a farming background, he is currently head of agriculture with AIB and has a strong knowledge of Irish farming and its policy environment at national and European level.

Tadhg Buckley holds a Degree in Agricultural Science from University College Dublin (UCD) as well as a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Limerick (UL).