Suppliers have their say on the Tipperary-Arrabawn merger

Tommy Hogan

“The proposal of the merger between the two co-ops brings about positive and negative aspects for suppliers on both sides. As an Arrabawn supplier, one of my concerns is that a significant increase in milk volume for Arrabawn, without an increase in high end markets, could potentially push us out of division one of the milk league.

“The difference in the farm gate price received this year from both co-ops is greater than many people would imagine.

“On an annual supply from 220 cows of up to 1.7m litres, a 2.5c difference on every litre equates to a staggering €42,500.”

Conor O'Brien

“I am very much in favour of the proposed merger between Arrabawn and Tipperary.

“The merger will secure the long-term future of the new co-op. The biggest positive I see will be the wider range and variety of products that we can offer.

“This will remove the reliance on just one or two products and reduce our exposure to price fluctuations.

“We will not have all our eggs in one basket and this will ensure we keep getting a good milk price and the co-op remains profitable.”

Name with the editor

“I think it’s a bad deal for Tipperary Co-op suppliers. The board were too late going to anyone to talk about a merger and now the Arrabawn deal is the only offer on the table. If they were only interested in dealing with Arrabawn, the board should have gone to them 18 months ago with a plan to put the merger through this year, and it would have been the 2022 accounts that would have been used.

“Tipp probably then would have gone into the merger as a third of the new entity, whereas now it’s only a quarter. The business lost €1m per month last year when you don’t include the profit that was made in France. I don’t know how they sat on their hands and did nothing for so long.”