Sean McNamara has been re-elected as the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
McNamara was elected to the role at a national ICSA meeting which took place at the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise, Co. Laois, this evening Wednesday, December 18.
The Co. Westmeath man will formally step back into the role at the ICSA’s National AGM in February 2025.
There were two candidates in contention for the position: Dan Lynam and Sean McNamara, both from Co. Westmeath.
McNamara currently holds the position of ICSA president and will now serve a second term. He is a sheep, beef, and suckler farmer from Lismacaffrey in Co. Westmeath.
McNamara was previously the sheep chair of the association, before running against former president Dermot Kelleher, who was going for the position for the second time in 2022.
In the December 2022 election, McNamara and Kelleher were both bidding to become the leader of the ICSA but reached a power-sharing agreement after the presidential ballot ended in a tie that year.
Lynam is a suckler, sheep, and tillage farmer from Castletown Geoghegan in Co. Westmeath. He is the current chair of Westmeath ICSA.
Lynam has been actively involved with the association for many years, and the drystock farmer previously served as ICSA national treasurer in 2017.
All elected members of the association’s national executive, comprising representatives from across the country, were eligible to vote.
The national executive has over 100 members drawn from all over the country on the basis of four members for each county.
Each candidate made a presentation to the association’s national executive which was followed by a questions and answer session with the candidates.
This session was chaired by Agriland technical beef specialist Breifne O’Brien. Voting followed the presentations and the result of the election was announced by the ICSA director of elections Hugh Farrell.