At a meeting of the Munster Dairy Producers Organisation (MDPO) held on 25 May in Ennis, James McInerney, a member of the board of Kerry Co-op and a director of Kinisla, said that he would seek to get the Kinisla accounts for 2025 published ahead of the deadline for suppliers to sign the new supply contract.

He added that if the accounts were not available ahead of that 4 August deadline, then he would push for an extension to the deadline.

The meeting, which was attended by fewer than 30 farmers, was the third in a series hosted by the MDPO on the new contract offered by Kinisla.

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Interim chair of the producer group James Doyle told the gathering that the contract was a one-sided document. He highlighted that farmers would be locked into the contract until 2030 and called for it to be replaced with a 12-month rolling contract.

Commitment

Doyle’s comments were echoed by questions from the floor to the members of the board of Kerry Co-op who were in attendance. Vice-chair of the co-op Conor Creedon said the contract was a commitment by Kinisla to farmers and that the business wanted a commitment from its suppliers.

There were several questions from the floor around the timing of the deadline for signing the contract.

Doyle said the cover letter to the contract sent to farmers said that if it is not signed and returned by 4 August, then their milk would no longer be collected.

Suppliers in attendance said they would need to have sight of the company accounts before they sign the contract.

Creedon said that Kinisla was in a very strong financial position, but agreed that the delay in the publication of the accounts was not ideal, adding that he would be hopeful that they might be out before the deadline.

McInerney went further and said that if they weren’t available ahead of the deadline, then he would push for an extension to that deadline.