Suppliers against IDB changes

THE Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association warned yesterday that it was completely opposed to any downgrading or dismantling of the Irish Dairy Board.

It was responding to a call by Dairygold chief executive Jerry Henchy at the Irish Grassland Association conference in Limerick for a radical transformation of the IDB, a €1.8 billion turnover co-op, which exports dairy products on behalf of its members to more than 90 markets.

Mr Henchy said the IDB had served the industry well but it should now consider new structures to ensure that it focuses on being the most cost-efficient commodity seller and the best manager of products under the Kerrygold label.

He also called for non-core assets within the IDB either to be sold to fund change without damaging milk prices or given back to the original stakeholders.

ICMSA president Pat O’Rourke said it considers the notion of taking resources from the IDB to be a blunder.

There must be no haemorrhage of cash from the board.

Mr O’Rourke said a previous ICMSA proposal for farmer shareholding would not lead to any outflow of funds from IDB.

“It would, however, recognise the fact that farmers have funded the development of the Irish Dairy Board since its inception,” he added.