The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has appointed a new dairy executive in the form of Aine O’Connell.
O’Connell was previously a policy officer with the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) and prior to this worked with Arrabawn Co-op as a dairy advisor.
The new dairy executive has a PhD in Dairy Science which she completed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.
Lascurettes, who had been in the role for 25 years, was one of seven IFA staff members who accepted the organisation’s voluntary early retirement scheme earlier this year.
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.
She will be commencing in the role shortly, the IFA confirmed.
Buckley joins IFA from AIB
Earlier this week, the IFA 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 University of Limerick (UL).
Prior to assuming the role as head of agriculture, Tadhg was team leader of AIB’s agri advisory team in the south of Ireland.
He is also actively involved in dairy farming on his home farm in north Cork.