Gabriel D'Arcy will leave LacPatrick Dairies following discussions between D'Arcy and the company.

Dr Seán Brady has been appointed by the LacPatrick Dairies board on an interim basis as acting head of operations.

“It has been an honour to serve LacPatrick and its shareholders," D'Arcy said on his departure. "I would like to thank the chair, the board, management, staff and shareholders for their support and assistance in transforming LacPatrick over the past four years.”

Merger process

Chair Andrew McConkey said that this does not affect the merger process taking place at the moment.

"We remain involved in exclusive amalgamation talks with Lakeland Dairies. These talks are progressing and we hope to be in a position to announce further details in the coming weeks,” McConkey said.

Interim

The acting head of operations, Dr Seán Brady, has held a number of high-profile roles in the agri-food industry before now. The Cavan man began his career in the co-op sector and rose to become general manager of Lakeland's dairy division. He then became chief executive of Greencore malt and CEO of Irish Sugar. He was the interim chief executive of the Irish Dairy Board, chaired the Food Harvest 2020 committee and was appointed by Simon Coveney as chair of the Farmers' Charter of Rights monitoring committee in 2015.