Co-operative movement presents Boylan with Plunkett Award

THE Irish co-operative movement has presented Cavan farmer and dairy industry leader Dessie Boylan with the Plunkett Award.

It is presented annually to an individual who is regarded as having made an outstanding contribution to the co-operative movement in Ireland.

Mr Boylan is a former president of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), which represents over 150 co-ops with a combined 150,000 individual members, 12,000 employees in Ireland and overall business turnover of some €10 billion.

He served as chairman of Lakeland Dairies for over a decade, and is the incoming Fine Gael chairman of Cavan County Council.

ICOS president Pat McLoughlin said Mr Boylan’s impressive personal accomplishments are matched only by his immense community service and his commitment to the betterment of Irish agriculture through co-operative enterprise.

Lakeland Dairies chairman Padraig Young said the presentation of the Plunkett Award to Dessie Boylan was a deserved tribute to a man who has devoted himself to community and public service all of his life.

Mr Boylan was accompanied at the ICOS presentation ceremony by his wife Mary.