The proposed merger between Aurivo and Dale Farm co-ops is on hold until Ornua addresses a rulebook issue, according to Aurivo CEO Donal Tierney.

Speaking this week to the Irish Farmers Journal, Tierney said that negotiations between the two co-ops had paused pending the outcome of the Ornua board decision on the matter.

The issue lies in the fact that the Ornua rulebook states that if a member of Ornua merges with a non-member, then the shares held by the member can be redeemed at par value.

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Tierney says that as Aurivo trades 70% of its dairy ingredients with Ornua and the co-op wants to continue this trading relationship, Aurivo wants clarification from Ornua that this rule will not be invoked if it merges with Dale Farm.

“We first met Ornua in the first week of October but it’s likely now that we won’t get an answer to our request until quarter one of 2026, which is strangling the process.

“We understand that the Ornua board have their internal processes to follow and we respect that, but all discussions between Aurivo and Dale Farm have stopped, pending the outcome of the Ornua decision.

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“We held information meetings for Aurivo suppliers last week and we gave members a brief update on where things were at but we’re very clear, if Ornua go down the road of redeeming our shares then we’re not going to waste farmer’s money on due diligence with Dale Farm,” he said.

“We believe that the Town of Monaghan merger with Ballyrashane Co-op sets a clear and recent precedent for a merger between a member and a non-member of Ornua and we want the same treatment.”

When asked about the next steps in the process, Tierney said the first step is to get Ornua approval and then bring any proposals to the board of Aurivo.

“We don’t have anything agreed at the moment.

“We have had a lot of discussion but nothing is agreed,” he said.

If an agreement is passed at board level, any deal will have to be voted through by the members of both co-ops, with a 75% majority for A1 shareholder of Aurivo required.

If the Ornua rule remains in place and is enforced, it could have repercussions for Kerry Dairy Ireland (KDI) if it is ever to merge with another co-op as KDI are not members of Ornua.