The pressure on the incomes of dairy farmers shows co-ops rely too much on farmers to bear too much of the risk attached to price volatility.

As difficult as it is to believe for such an organisation integral to Irish society, the role of the GAA president remains undefined. Director general Páraic Duffy is widely regarded as the most powerful administrator in Irish sport yet the Uachtarán is viewed by GAA members as the embodiment of the association.

CONSUMERS and farmers in the EU would benefit from retaining the Common Agricultural Policy in its current format, according to delegates attending the ICOS Livestock and Marts national conference in the Heritage Hotel, Killenard, Co Laois.