ICBF defends make-up of its board membership
THE ICBF has strongly rejected suggestions of imbalance in representation on its board.
Some of the beef breed societies questioned the make-up of the latest ICBF board, claiming that beef breeders had not sufficient membership.
However, ICBF chairman, Michael Doran, dismissed any hint of imbalance in the makeup of the board.
Mr Doran told a Joint Committee on Agriculture meeting which looked at the operation of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) that the various organisations “submit who is to represent them” and that it was not the “remit” of ICBF to decide who made up the membership of the board.
“To clarify and keep the record straight, the [ICBF] board is made up of three representatives from the AI centres, and they represent beef, dairy and AI; three representatives from milk recording agencies; six farm organisation representatives, four from IFA and two from ICMSA; two IHFA representatives; one pedigree representative, who happens to be a Charolais breeder; and a representative of the Department of Agriculture,” he said.
The Irish Charolais Cattle Breeders delegation challenging the operation of the animal evaluation or Euro-Star system, alleging that the ICBF board was controlled by the National Cattle Breeding Centre AI group and the IFA who between them have 10 board seats, including the chairmanship.
While accepting that the membership of the board is as outlined by the breeders, Mr Doran pointed out that the six representatives from the National Cattle Breeding Centre are split between representing the AI centres within the group (Progressive Genetics and Munster AI) and the milk recording service.
The ICBF website list the board members as: ÷Michael Doran, chairman (Irish Farmers’ Association) ÷Patrick Kelly Jnr, (Progressive Genetics) ÷Angus Woods, (Irish Farmers’ Association) ÷Sean O’ Leary, (Irish Farmers’ Association) ÷Kevin Kinsella, (Irish Farm- ers’ Association) ÷Tom Wilson, (Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association) ÷Tim Fitzgerald, (Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association) ÷Kevin Coffey, (Munster Cattle Breeding Group) ÷Richard Hinchion, (Munster Cattle Breeding Group) ÷Peter Fleming, (Munster Cattle Breeding Group) ÷Bernard Eivers, (National Cattle Breeding Centre) ÷Vincent Gorman, (Progressive Genetics) ÷Richard Whelan, (IHFA) ÷Paul Hannan, (IHFA) ÷Martin Ryan, (Pedigree Cattle Breeders) ÷Bill Callanan, (Department of Agriculture) ÷Company secretary; John Carty, (Department of Agriculture).