IFA man loses out in LacPatrick board vote

WELL-KNOWN IFA representative Bert Stewart has been voted off the LacPatrick board.

The Co Monaghan dairy farmer, who is chairman of the IFA’s animal health committee and brother to government minister Heather Humphreys, was defeated in a recent board ballot.

Stewart’s shock election loss came as part of a revamp of the co-op’s governance structures which led to the downsizing of LacPatrick’s board.

LacPatrick was formed in 2015 when Town of Monaghan Co-op merged with Ballyrashane Co-op in Northern Ireland.

At the time of the merger it was decided to combine the boards of the two co-ops, which resulted in a 26-member board at LacPatrick.

This is now being downsized to 15 farmer members, plus an independent board member who will be co-opted to the board.

Regional divisions

Under the new governance structures, a 60-man council will be elected from four regional divisions — CavanMonaghan, FermanaghTyrone, Armagh-Down and Antrim-Derry. Future board members will be drawn from this council.

As part of the downsizing process, the representation from the old Town of Monaghan board was reduced from 16 to six.

Four of the 16 members did not go forward for election, including the LacPatrick chairman Hugo Maguire, who announced he would step down from the board after the co-op’s AGM later this summer, and the co-op’s vice-chairman, John Bole. In addition, one board member was deceased and had not been replaced.

A special general meeting (SGM) of LacPatrick shareholders is to be held tonight to approve the new governance structures.