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National Dairy Council Reports Strong Progress at AGM

The National Dairy Council (NDC) has reported a year of strong progress at its Annual General Meeting today (Thursday, June 26, 2008) in the Clarion IFSC Dublin Hotel. “I believe that the NDC completed 2007 in its strongest position in many years,” NDC Chief Executive Helen Brophy told the meeting. “While there were some hard lessons learned, the work involved in creating a newly effective organisation showed the existence of a great deal of goodwill towards the NDC. We are now re-engaging with stakeholders to support the growth of the Irish dairy industry and to strengthen the relevancy of dairy to the Irish consumer in the coming years.”

The meeting heard that apart from its normal activities regarding the promotion of the health and nutrition benefits of milk consumption to the general public the NDC had also undertaken a major strategy review of the organisation during 2007. This resulted in the development of an ambitious new five-year Strategic Plan to strengthen Ireland’s €1 billion dairy market.

“We are living in a time of rapid change in global dairy markets and this necessitated a fundamental strategic review of our organisation. The review involved us consulting with the farmers who fund and support us as well as processors and state agencies and other stakeholders. A clear conclusion of the review was that the NDC had reached watershed in its life and needed to reposition its services to become a key agency in the dairy support infrastructure. This led us to develop a new Strategic Plan designed to achieve that objective.”

“I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the NDC Board for their support and encouragement over this time; to our partners in the broader dairy industry for their collaboration and support and all those who have been professionally and personally helpful during the review process. The NDC is now actively beginning the roll-out of the new five year strategic plan. I look forward to working with all stakeholders throughout 2008 and beyond to sustain our current momentum and to build on the many exciting opportunities that are now arising for the organisation.”

Commenting on changes within the organisation over the past year, NDC Chairman Dominic Cronin said: “2007 was a year of significant change for the organisation,” he said. “The retirement of Aidan McCarthy as Chief Executive was among the more significant events to occur during the year. Under Aidan’s stewardship, the NDC focused on the Irish dairy industry as a positive resource for the consumer and developed many initiatives to support this. On behalf of all at the NDC, I would like to thank Aidan for his many services to the industry and to wish him a long and happy retirement.”

The meeting also included presentations on a number of important topics related to the new programmes now underway within the strategy. These were:

• Understanding Consumer Behaviour to Drive Consumption of Milk & Dairy Products in Ireland; presented by Marie Burke, Managing Director, TNS Worldpanel Ireland.
• FAI & Eircom League of Ireland School Partnership Programme with the National Dairy Council; presented by Noel Mooney, Head of League & Marketing Promotion, FAI.
• The Role of Nutrition in Osteoporosis; presented by Margo Brennan, Director of Nutrition, Irish Osteoporosis Society.

Editors Notes

Established in 1964, the mission of the National Dairy Council (NDC) is to support Irish dairy farmers by driving the positive position and consumption of milk and dairy products through integrated marketing and communications programmes based on informed scientific evidence. 

Members of the NDC Board and their representative organisations include:
Helen Brophy (CEO), Dominic Cronin (Chairman) ICMSA, Henry Corbally (Vice Chairman) Glanbia, Eamonn Bray National Milk Agency, Joe Collum Glanbia, Jackie Cahill ICMSA, Tom Corcoran ICOS, Sean Griffin Barryroe Co-Op, Richard Kennedy IFA, Patrick Kelly Donegal Creameries, Kevin Kiersey IFA, Sean McAuliffe North Cork Co-Op, Mary Purcell Centenary-Thurles, Gerald Quain Kerry Group and Conor Ryan Arrabawn Co-Op.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Joanne Coffey
Keating & Associates
Tel: 01 6620 345
Mob: 086 830 3438

Helen Brophy
National Dairy Council
Tel: 01 645 3273
Mob: 087 222 1113