Senior director of Meat Industry Ireland (MII) Joe Ryan is to leave Ibec for a new position outside the organisation, it has emerged today (Friday, July 22).
The development this afternoon comes exactly one month on from the announcement (on June 22) that Ryan would take over as the head of MII following the departure of Cormac Healy, who joined Drinks Ireland.
MII, which represents the primary meat processing sector, is part of Ibec, which represents businesses in Ireland.
In a brief statement, an Ibec spokesperson told Agriland: “Ibec can confirm that Joe Ryan is leaving the organisation to take up a new role.”
Ryan’s departure from Ibec and MII brings to an end not only a month-long term as senior director of the meat-processing body, but also an eight-year-long tenure at the organisation.
He joined MII in 2014, having previously held roles in the agri-food sector with North Cork Co-Operative and Permanent TSB’s agri-finance division.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science from University College Dublin (UCD), as well as a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from UCD Smurfit Business School.
Ryan has represented MII on several national and European committees on progressing market access and export opportunities for Irish meat.
MII will now be seeking its third senior director this year.
Ryan (who already held a senior role in MII) had taken over from Cormac Healy last month, who had headed the meat processor group since 2015.
Following his departure, Healy succeeded Patricia Callan as the director of Drinks Ireland.
Healy’s tenure as senior director of MII had been an eventful one, to say the least.
In the late summer and early autumn of 2019, a series of farmer protests at processing plant gates rocked the beef industry.
Throughout those protests, and the industry talks that followed, Healy was the public face of the processor’s response, bearing much of the criticism from the farming organisations that was directed at the factories.