Downey said due to the misrepresentation of facts at the marathon 17-hour executive council meeting last week, he felt forced to resign. He said he was "thrown under the bus" by his colleagues who implied that he acted alone when he negotiated the €2m exit package with Pat Smith. Downey, however, refused to name those who he alleges had "thrown" him "under the bus".

Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio One on Tuesday 1 December, Downey said he received advice from a number of people before he went into the room to negotiate former general secretary Pat Smith's €2m severance payment but he refused to identify them.

However, in an interview in the Irish Times this morning Downey said when he learned of Pat Smith's remuneration he met the IFA legal adviser, treasurer (Jer Bergin) and financial controller (Ken Heade), and spoke by phone to the deputy president (Tim O'Leary). He said it was made “absolutely clear to me you cannot remove somebody from a salaried job just because of the size of that salary. The view of the meeting was I was to speak to the general secretary.”

Downey added he only learned of Smith's remuneration package on 19 November 2015.

When it was put to him on Morning Ireland that the people who acted with him and then "threw him under the bus" resign, he said he did not think any more heads should roll. "It is time to allow some healing to occur within the organisation," he said.

He added that employment law dictated the amount of Pat Smith's salary. "Employment law is very strong, very powerful in this country," he said. However, despite admitting that Smith's €2m severance package was commensurate with the "outlandish salary" he was being paid, the former IFA president said he hopes the IFA manages to overturn the package in court.

Poll results

Meanwhile, we have the results of our poll related to former chief economist Con Lucey's review of the organisation’s governance and remuneration procedures which is due on 16 December. In answer to the question of "What level of detail do you think farming organisations should report on?", out of 252 voters, some 52% said 'pay, benefits and expenses paid to any individual by the organisation down to local branch level', 27% said 'pay and benefits for senior national officials' and 21% said 'pay, benefits and expenses for staff and elected representatives at the national, regional and county level'.

Some 196 voters responded to our second poll which asked "How do you think this information should be communicated?". The majority (59%) said 'made available to all members once a year, e.g. at the AGM', 33% said 'made available to the general public on a permanent basis, e.g. on the organisation’s website' and 8% said 'made available to a restricted number of elected farming representatives, e.g. the 53-strong IFA executive council'.

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