Dairy farmer Gibbons re-elected as Connacht Gold co-operative chairman

Padraig Gibbons has been re-elected chairman of Connacht Gold, the €400m multi-purpose co-operative.

Mr Gibbons, who has been chairman for the past 10 years, has led Connacht Gold during a period of growth and consolidation which has seen investment of close on €100m across the West, North-West and Midlands.

Mr Gibbons, who runs a dairy farm in Westport, is a prominent figure in Irish agriculture. He is a former president of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the co-ordinating body for the co-operative movement and is currently a member of the ICOS board. He is also a member of the boards of Teagasc and the National Dairy Council.

Leitrim dairy farmer Pat Duffy has also been re-elected vice-chairman of Connacht Gold. Mr Duffy has been vice-chairman for the past four years.

Connacht Gold has a milk pool of 370m litres, supplied by 1,000 farmers across 10 counties, and is exporting dairy products to 20 countries. The co-op has 41 retail stores in the five counties of Connacht, and in Longford, Westmeath, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone. It runs four livestock marts in Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim and is also involved in animal feed production and timber saw-milling.

The recent acquisition of the milk and retail stores businesses of Donegal Creameries forms part of Connacht Gold’s plan to grow its consumer foods, dairy ingredients and retail businesses and has cemented its position as a leading supplier of fresh milk on the Irish market. It also has the fastest growing butter brands on the market.