Irish Farmers Association chief Eddie Downey steps aside to allow pay review

The announcement that Irish Farmers Association president Eddie Downey was stepping aside to allow a review into the remuneration of its general secretary followed a motion of no confidence by an IFA branch.

Mr Downey was under pressure to resign after general secretary Pat Smith vacated his post following revelations on his remuneration.

It emerged last week that Mr Smith earned €535,000 in 2013: A basic salary of €295,000, a €150,000 pension contribution, a €60,000 bonus, and €30,000 from IFA telecom. Last year, he earned €445,000: A €295,000 basic salary and a €150,000 pension contribution.

Pat Smith

Initially, an IFA spokesperson said the group had no comment after a Galway-based IFA branch moved a vote of no confidence in Mr Downey.

While Mr Downey had said news of Mr Smith’s salary was a “shock”, Tomas O’Fatharta of the IFA Eyrecourt branch said in Mr Downey’s term as president, and vice-president before that, the leader was at the ‘pulse’ of the IFA and should have been aware of the general secretary’s pay level.

“I don’t believe he didn’t know about it, he had to know about it,” Mr O’Fatharta told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. “If he didn’t, it makes things even worse. He was at the helm. He knows what’s going on, he had to know what was going on. As a farmer, I’m responsible for my farm. He was responsible for the organisation, he has lost touch with the grassroots and therefore he has to resign,” Mr O’Fatharta said.

There are now calls for other salaries within the IFA to be revealed, including the disclosure of Mr Downey’s pay package.

The current controversy comes just over a year after the outgoing head of the IFA’s audit committee made recommendation on salary oversight.

Con Lucey had resigned as chair of the IFA’s audit committee in August of last year, citing “unacceptable interference” by Mr Smith in the group’s work as one reason he was stepping down.

Letters obtained by the Sunday Business Post show how Mr Lucey objected to Mr Smith’s request that a scheduled committee meeting be postponed to allow the general secretary to review material prepared by the financial controller for the meeting. Mr Lucey said it would be a “waste of time” and a “charade” if documentation due to be analysed by the audit committee were to be “sanitised” before the group considered it.

In a follow-up letter, outlining his outgoing recommendations to the committee, Mr Lucey suggested that the IFA set up a remuneration committee. This, he suggested, would be responsible for setting the pay levels for the senior office holders within the IFA.

He wrote to Mr Downey in August 2014, saying: “…it is apparent to me that there is a lack of accountability in the setting of levels of financial remuneration for the two most senior office-holders: i.e. the honorarium to the president and the pay and benefits of the general secretary. I have already mentioned this issue to you informally, as an issue that needs to be addressed by IFA.”