10 officers from the Kerry Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) executive have passed a vote of no confidence in the Kerry IFA chair, Kenny Jones.
The group, which accounts for the majority of IFA officers in the county, held an online meeting last night (Tuesday, October 18) where the vote was taken.
However, it remains unclear if the meeting can be considered legitimate under IFA rules.
Agriland understands that Kenny Jones was not invited to participate in the meeting.
The officers who voted include Kerry IFA second delegate Mary Fleming and PRO John O’Sullivan, along with Kathleen Herlihy; Helen O’Mahony; Shane McAuliffe; Francis Foley; Jason Fleming; Mary Fleming; Dermot Kelly; Kevin Leahy; and Michael O’Dowd.
In a statement, the officers said that they wrote to “senior IFA staff” on October 7, outlining their “frustrations with issues within the Kerry IFA county executive” and their “prolonged attempts at seeking a resolution”.
They also noted that former IFA Kerry chairperson Pat O’Driscoll was willing to mediate on the disagreements within the executive.
According to the group the correspondence was acknowledged by IFA treasurer, Martin Stapleton on October 11, however, they said that there was no response to the issues raised.
“Our county executive remains non-functioning. It is with regret, that we, the majority of Kerry IFA county officers, have now passed a vote of no confidence in our county chair.
“We have deemed that our county chair is not fit to hold the position having failed to carry out his obligations as chair of Kerry IFA,” the officers said.
The group called on Kenny Jones to stand down as Kerry IFA chair “immediately” to allow for a successor to be elected.
When contacted by Agriland Kenny Jones said that he had no comment to make at this time.
Meanwhile, the IFA National Council is set to meet on Monday (October 24) to discuss a proposal to ban Kerry IFA dairy chair Michael O’Dowd from holding an officer role in the association for four years.
The farmer from Castlemaine is among several members of the county executive who were contacted following a formal complaint being made to IFA headquarters in July.
It is understood that the complaint was lodged by Kerry IFA chair Kenny Jones, however this has not been officially confirmed by the association’s headquarters.
The recommendation from the IFA National Rules, Privileges and Procedures Committee followed a report by consultant Gerard Dollard who was hired by the IFA to carry out an independent investigation into the complaint.
It is believed that all members of the council will be presented with a copy of Dollard’s report prior to making a final decision on the matter.
O’Dowd previously told Agriland that he does not accept the recommendation and maintains that he has done nothing wrong.