The single-biggest contributor to the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) revenues continues to be its “broadband and phone service sales”.
The farm lobby group’s latest financial report outlines that this income source accounted for some €6,152,983 in 2019; this figure was recorded as €6,381,334 in 2018.
Members can avail of services that claim to offer discounts for home phone, broadband, mobile, TV and power.
- Affiliation fees (membership fees): €5,715,919;
- European Involvement Fund levies (collected by meat processors, marts, merchants, etc): €3,116,707;
- Trust fund contributions: €430,000;
- Investment dividend income: €178,788;
- Other income: €395,817.
The IFA’s total income for 2019 was reported as €15,990,214; total expenditure for the 12-month period was recorded as €16,231,899 – as such, the association reported a deficit for the year of €933,307.
Voluntary Early Retirement
Earlier this week, it emerged that a small number of the senior management team at the IFA are to be excluded from its voluntary early retirement scheme.
In recent days, letters have been issued from the association’s headquarters offering voluntary early retirement to a number of its staff across the country – aged between 50 and 63 years.
It is understood that the package on the table offers a total of three weeks’ pay for every year of service within the farm lobby group – with a minimum tenure set at one and a half years.
The move comes at a time when the organisation – which has approximately 72,000 members – appears to be positioning itself for a number of reforms in a bid to balance and sustain the association’s finances and membership going forward.
The IFA has declined to comment on the matter.