The Beef Plan Movement is in turmoil, with its national committee at war with its founders Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley over financial and governance issues.

Members of the national committee and a county committee have said they have “grave issues and concerns surrounding transparency in the organisation including membership numbers”. The committee has called for an independently audited set of accounts to be made available to it immediately.

County elections in many counties won’t be held before an extraordinary general meeting takes place

A power struggle has seen county committees take votes of no confidence in Doyle and Corley including Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Kerry, Sligo, Monaghan and Donegal.

County elections in many counties won’t be held before an extraordinary general meeting takes place on 26 January.

In December 2019, Hugh Doyle told the Irish Farmers Journal that there were “around 10,500 paid-up members”.

This is now closer to 11,000, he said on Wednesday, which would equate to a membership income of €110,000.

Correspondence seen by the Irish Farmers Journal between Eoin Donnelly, the western regional chair on the national committee, and Hugh Doyle shows Donnelly challenging the membership figures, writing: “10,500 members... you told the national committee at a meeting in Portlaoise that there were 12,500 paid up members. Your [sic] going to have to explain where the 20,000 euro went.”

Membership forms, once collected, were processed and held by Moira Doyle, national treasurer of the Beef Plan group, and also Hugh Doyle’s wife. When contacted on Wednesday, Hugh Doyle told the Irish Farmers Journal: “A full set of audited accounts have been prepared, covering the period up to the end of September 2019.”

He said the accounts had been signed off by the four directors of the Beef Plan company – Hugh Doyle, Enda Fingleton, Alan O’Brien and Kevin O’Brien – and would be presented at the Beef Plan AGM on 8 February.

“No money is unaccounted for,” he said on Wednesday, saying that a substantial amount of money went on legal fees relating to legal threats by factories last summer, with a small percentage being paid to Moira Doyle for administration of the membership register and other office work.

I’m refusing to allow an independent audit because it would be wasting more money

Other costs included protest and rally costs including signage, hotel room hire, hi-vis jackets and sound systems.

“Every red cent is accounted for,” he said. “I’m refusing to allow an independent audit because it would be wasting more money.”

He declined to say what accounting firm prepared the accounts or who audited them.

Correspondence from December, seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, shows that Doyle sought €1,000 each in loans from the national committee for the Beef Plan, writing: “We either inject funds or we cant [sic] continue!!”.

He told the Irish Farmers Journal that this was to avoid the Beef Plan directors being seen as trading recklessly.

Separately, the Irish Farmers Journal has seen a blank cheque, issued to a member of the national committee in October 2019 for expenses. The cheque was drawn on an account named as the Beef Plan Movement, and signed by Moira Doyle and Hugh Doyle. The cheque has not been cashed.

When contacted, Eamon Corley, one of the Beef Plan founder members and co-chair, said that he had been a signatory for the Beef Plan account, but was “not sure now” if he was still a signatory. He pointed out that he had resigned as a director of the Beef Plan Movement Company Limited by Guarantee last August.

Galway has been a major flashpoint in the confusion around Beef Plan elections

In addition to the accounts, there is a power struggle at play between the co-chairs, the national committee and many county committees.

Doyle and Corley last Saturday declared that the national committee has been “stood down”, while the committee says the pair has no power to stand it down under the December-agreed rules of governance.

Galway has been a major flashpoint in the confusion around Beef Plan elections.

There, questions have been raised about whether Eoin Donnelly, who has been acting as the county vice-chair and secretary, has had his membership processed.

Donnelly told the Irish Farmers Journal that he had flagged the issue with Hugh Doyle on multiple occasions last year.

Hugh Doyle said that Donnelly was not listed on the membership database

He said that he believed “the membership information is a joke”, adding that he paid his €10 fee and completed a membership form at a meeting in Kilkenny on 28 November 2018.

He said that he and other people “paid money, filled in a form and got no acknowledgment of membership”.

Asked about Donnelly’s membership, Hugh Doyle said that Donnelly was not listed on the membership database. However, he said Donnelly had been offered the computer hard drive to check and he could still pay membership to Westmeath and run for election. Donnelly was one of the Beef Plan representatives – with Hugh Doyle – at the crucial Kildare Street meeting hosted by Minister Creed on 15 September.

Meanwhile, Enda Fingleton and Dermot O’Brien are to represent the Beef Plan in the Beef Taskforce talks at the Department of Agriculture on Thursday. This is despite a request from Hugh Doyle to change the representatives on Tuesday – which he subsequently revoked so as “not to jeopardise the important talks”.