Dairygold co-op criticism: the quotes from the floor

“We need to sit down with the top brass… and find out what’s going on and convey it back. I got 90% of my stuff off them [Dairygold] every year, but for the last two or three or four months I haven’t bought a strap off them because they haven’t been supporting us. They’re penny-pinching every chance they get, out of our milk cheques.” – Kevin O’Halloran, east Cork supplier

“The most immediate problem is the fact we’re in division three and we need to be back in division one when it comes to paying for milk. And the reason we’re in division three, call a spade a spade, is because the board has not brought in, in the last year, a cost-cutting exercise.

"I think Dairygold are over-staffed. We need to see some action on the price of milk in the next three to four months and we need to see the loyalty bonus dropped…..it’s a principle to not be forced to deal with your co-op.” – Bandon area supplier,

former committee member

“I think we’ve been too quiet all along, and I’ll put the hand up, I think farm organisations are politically correct and frightened of upsetting anyone. For me, I would have to spend €72,000 on inputs to get whatever loyalty bonus comes at the end of the year, when Bandon Co-op has been delivering that all summer with no conditions.” – Nigel Sweetnam, IFA poultry chair and dairy farmer

“This is actually a double-edged sword, because someone who is supplying 500,000l has to buy €30,000 from the co-op to qualify for the bonus. Now it might be 6c/l. It might be 8c/l in three years’ time. Once this is introduced, no-one knows where it’s going to finish up." – Dairygold supplier, from the floor

“If there’s people representing us inside in Dairygold and they didn’t know that this was being passed, 6c/l, there’s something seriously wrong inside in Dairygold. I don’t think we should have to leave the co-op, or even be thinking of leaving the co-op. We own the co-op, the people before us owned the co-op, it’s not the boys that’s wearing the suits.” – Willie, Cork-based supplier, from the floor

“I am not happy with what was said last night. The whole meeting was an aggravated therapy session that lacked structure, did not progress and lacked data-backed fact and figures.

“The language used to describe the board members, management and the CEO was appalling (clowns, f*ckers, yahoos). And I can only imagine how the people at the meeting would feel if they were called these same names.

“If all these people want to supply another co-op, do they understand that it will only make the cost of production even higher for everyone else who stays? Who else will collect their milk? What are the initial start-up costs to supply other co-ops with buying shares for production?” – Dairygold supplier, by email post-meeting

“Our issue is with management and how it’s being managed, and the dog isn’t biting at them from a board point of view. So whether we get a list of names and get a motion of no confidence in the board, dissolve the board, I don’t know what the rules are.” – Dairygold supplier, from the floor