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A suggestion that Joe Healy's term as IFA president should be extended past this year is circulating.
The idea has been widely discussed since the weekend. It remains to be seen whether the suggestion will gain traction or not.
IFA elections are scheduled for November/December of this year for all national positions.
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 31 October.
Suggestion
When contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal, Joe Healy said that the suggestion had been put to him in recent days.
He said it came as a surprise to him and he wasn't sure how to react to it.
His focus is on the round of meetings the IFA is hosting to discuss the €100m Brexit beef fund, which have been well attended.
Galway IFA chair Anne Mitchell confirmed she had heard of the suggestion, but that no formal proposal had been put forward by any member or branch.
Mitchell also confirmed that the subject is not on the agenda for Galway IFA's June executive meeting scheduled for Monday night.
Short term
Joe Healy's presidency will not last the normal four years, because the first of his two two-year terms did not begin until May 2016.
The out-of-season election that Healy came through was precipitated by the resignation of Eddie Downey in November 2015.
The following month, the UK voted to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum and the issue has dominated his presidency.
In April 2017, the IFA hosted a Brexit summit in Goffs, which brought international attention to the exposure of the Irish agri-food sector to Brexit.
Brexit is undeniably a massive challenge for Irish farming and Joe Healy has proven an able communicator of the Irish vulnerability to a hard Brexit.
That said, it would be an extraordinary move to suspend the IFA presidential election scheduled for the end of this year.
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