330 Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) branch annual general meetings (AGMs) will take place across 29 county executives this week as voting in the association’s presidential elections continues.
This represents more than one-third of the 940 AGMs that will take place by the end of November.
The final batch of voting packs, which include ballot papers so members can cast their vote for the next president and deputy president of IFA, will issue this week.
They will be sent to those members whose branch AGM will take place in the last week of November.
Any members who have not received a voting pack ahead of their branch AGM is asked to contact their local IFA office.
IFA elections
IFA National Returning Officer Brian Rushe has renewed his appeal to members to have their say and use their vote.
“For this election, members have the option of bringing their vote in its return envelope to their branch meeting, or returning their vote by post.
“While the postal option is there, it is important for members to attend their local AGM and have their say on issues of concern to them,” he said.
Both the IFA president and deputy president are elected through a national vote at branch level, in which all IFA members are entitled to vote.
There are two candidates bidding to succeed Tim Cullinan as IFA president: Martin Stapleton and Francie Gorman.
Stapleton is the current IFA National Treasurer and a dairy farmer from Oola, Co. Limerick. He is married to Siobhan and the couple has three teenage children.
Gorman, the current IFA South Leinster Regional chair, is a suckler beef and sheep farmer from Ballinakill in Co. Laois . He is married to Kay, with whom he has a son, Tom.
There are also two candidates hoping to become the next IFA deputy president: Pat Murphy and Alice Doyle.
Murphy is the Connacht Regional chair and a dairy farmer from Co. Galway, while Doyle, who is from Co. Wexford, is the current IFA Farm Family Committee chair.
The election count will take place on Tuesday, December 12 at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin.