DEAR SIR:

At current milk price, it’s easy to support the suspension of the dairy levy to Ornua. Ornua now, and under its earlier names of Bord Bainne and the Irish Dairy Board, has become a real player in the world market. We should be proud of what it has done on our behalf and establishing the Kerrygold brand in such a good way.

When we consider that we as farmers have paid €250m in total levies, it’s very hard now to walk away from this long-term commitment. Who now decides on the suspension of the levy but more importantly on the future direction of Ornua? How can we continue to be involved with Ornua as individual dairy farmers and be able to enjoy the association and benefit from its future success. There is no doubt that the current unique governance structure where the CEOs of the member co-ops who at times are in competition with the body on which they sit, provides certain conflicts to having this as a free and open debate. I would welcome other farmers’ views.

The issue of Ornua salaries and other executive salaries should not be the issue. By far the most important issue is the total number of high salaries supported by Irish dairy farmers.

We have had a number of reports in the past that have looked at the configuration of the Irish dairy industry – the last one did not even see the light of day. But at a time when a farmer-owned co-op like Friesland Campina can pay a 3.5c end-of-year bonus to its suppliers for milk which is already 4c/ltr ahead of average Irish price, surely we need at a minimum to consider the potential for a new Irish model?