The Dealer understands that the IFA is closing in on its new director general.

A shortlist of five candidates has been drawn up by IFA president Joe Healy, with interviews scheduled for the last week of October. It is understood the shortlist contains both internal and external candidates.

This is in line with the time frame Healy and the IFA set out in recent weeks. The association had hoped to have a new director general in place by the end of the year.

However, it is not yet clear if the new person will be in place in the Irish Farm Centre by that time.

Should the IFA choose an external candidate, many senior executives often have a three- or six-month notice period to serve, which means that it could be the first quarter of 2017 before the new person takes charge of Ireland’s largest farm organisation.

The position of director general is a new one to the IFA.

As part of his review of the organisation in the wake of the pay controversies in 2015, former IFA economist Con Lucey recommended the splitting of roles previously held by the general secretary.

Leadership

Lucey surmised that there are too many administrative functions and that the general secretary and new director general should be more focused on offering leadership to the association.

The IFA, working with accountancy firm KPMG, started the recruitment process in July. KPMG said it had received in excess of 30 expressions of interest in the job.

Meanwhile, Macra’s new ceo Denis Duggan began his tenure on Monday. Denis comes from Enterprise Ireland, in which capacity he was centrally involved in the excellent Innovation Arena. He has The Dealer’s best wishes, as will whomever succeeds in the race to become the IFA’s new senior executive.