Carroll elected chair of Kerry Co-op

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that Denis Carroll has been elected as chair of Kerry Co-op, with Conor Creedon elected as vice-chair.

Carroll had been the favourite to succeed Mundy Hayes since Hayes decided to step down from the role.

The rearranged board meeting of Kerry Co-op took place on Tuesday after Storm Barra forced the cancellation of the meeting last Tuesday. No confirmation of the election result was available from Kerry Co-op.

'New life'

If confirmed, the result could inject new life into any potential joint venture with Kerry Group for the dairy business. Carroll has been an advocate of trying to establish some arrangement with Kerry Group for the dairy business.

Two weeks ago, Kerry Co-op announced that Mundy Hayes had decided to step down as chair of Kerry Co-op at the December meeting.

A statement from a co-op spokesperson suggested that Hayes would remain as a director for the next 12 months. Co-op director board elections have been finalised for 2021/22.

Kerry Co-op is a holding company that manages the huge wealth of the co-op shareholding in Kerry Group plc.

Kerry Co-op directors have no duties on setting milk price, as Kerry Group controls the dairy processing assets of Kerry milk suppliers.

The long-running saga of selling the dairy processing business to the farmers (Kerry Co-op) is on hold for the moment as differences of opinion and value, coupled with a poor relationship between the co-op and the plc, prevent any strategic long-term vision.