The Dealer has seen a letter sent to IFA hill chair Flor McCarthy informing him of an upcoming independent review of potential breaches of the IFA rules and code of conduct.

The IFA informed the Kerryman that the review will be undertaken by a “competent person who is independent of the association”.

Gareth Kyne, formerly of Ibec, has been appointed as the independent reviewer.

“I will not be engaging with anyone outside of the organisation. The IFA is outsourcing, when they should be handling this internally,” McCarthy told The Dealer.

Meanwhile, I gather an informal consultative process is being undertaken by the IFA to identify possible avenues for improving the association’s finances.

A recent meeting in Portlaoise was attended by a selection of around 15 ordinary IFA members, in addition to a small number of senior staff and elected officers.

The gathering – which was held according to COVID-19 guidelines and included members from across the country and various enterprises – was chaired by an independent facilitator.

It addressed the financial challenges facing the IFA and discussed possible remedies to arrest the fall-off in the association’s income, particularly the significant slide in revenue from commodity levies.