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The IFA is making preparations to hold an in-person national council meeting in early September. It will be the first non-virtual council meeting since COVID-19 restrictions were announced in March. Since then meetings have been held remotely using video call apps, with farmers tuning in from their kitchen tables.
From September there will also be a resumption of in-person national committee meetings (milk, grain, livestock, etc.), while county executive meetings will also return in-person.
Farmers attending any of these meetings will have to observe a protocol which has now been sent out by email. Procedures include:
• Seating arrangements must fully respect the 2m social distancing guidelines. This will require that meetings be held in much larger rooms than normal.
• Hand sanitisers must be provided and used by everyone on arrival and departure.
• Meetings will be limited to 120 minutes.
• All meetings must also be able to facilitate people attending remotely by video conference. This is to facilitate farmers who don’t wish to attend in person.
• Under no circumstances should any person experiencing COVID-19-related symptoms attend.
• A full attendance list must be taken and kept in the relevant IFA office. This is in case contact tracking and tracing by the HSE is required.
The protocol will be kept under review as public health guidelines evolve.
Forthcoming meetings
From Monday 29 June, county officer meetings and meetings of management committees of the national committees can take place in person, provided the above protocol is fully observed. These meetings involve relatively small numbers of farmers and IFA staff.
Latest guidelines from the Government are that the maximum attendance at indoor meetings is scheduled to increase from 50 persons to 100 from 20 July.
Meanwhile, in advance of September, all county executives will hold remote meetings on Microsoft Teams before the end of July. The IFA’s IT staff will actively support these meetings. The national officers committee says that video meetings which allow members attend remotely will continue to have a role in the organisation, the email said.
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