Pat McCormack was confirmed as the new president of the ICMSA at Tuesday’s meeting of the more than 100-strong national council.

McCormack may be only 40, but he doesn’t lack experience, having been deputy president for the six years of John Comer’s tenure. He has also previously chaired the dairy committee. The new president identified Brexit, Mercosur, CAP and the environment as issues that would dominate the opening period of his presidency. “The ICMSA will continue to work to ensure that the voice of Ireland’s dairy farmers is heard loud and clear in the formation of policy for our farming and agri-food sectors,” he said.

John Comer proved an effective advocate for farmers since his election in 2011. McCormack paid tribute to his predecessor and said that while ICMSA will continue to work for and with any group or individual interested in highlighting rural issues, the organisation’s focus will always remain the income of its core family dairy farm membership and the milk price on which that income depends.

He said that ICMSA refused to accept that the farmers who produced the milk on which the multi-billion euro dairy sector was built could be considered as some kind of afterthought at the mercy of either processors or retailers.

Lorcan McCabe from Cavan was elected to succeed McCormack as deputy president, and also was unopposed. McCabe had been chair of the farm business committee. Shane O’Loughlin from Wicklow is the new chair of that committee, seen as increasingly influential.

Denis Drennan, who had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the deputy presidency, takes the chair of the farm and rural affairs committee. Des Morrison of Sligo was elected chair of the livestock committee, with Gerald Quain of Limerick remaining in the chair of the pivotal dairy committee.