The directors on Ireland’s dairy boards are the guardians of our co-operative ethos. They dedicate time, energy and effort into an often thankless job. Most of the long hours planning and assessing market information goes unseen.

We have championed proper remuneration for the role and better management information. It goes without saying, given the scale of the investment in processing capacity that has taken place or is planned (over €1 bn), there is a huge onus on directors to ensure they sign off on individual investment plans that have the long-term good of the industry in mind and that plans are independently assessed. With the role comes responsibility.