ICOS, jointly with our colleagues in the IFA, ran a very successful evening showcasing the co-operative based Irish dairy industry to MEPs and other stakeholders in the European parliament.

The event was aimed at highlighting the contribution made by the dairy sector to the economy and to focus attention that it continues to need robust political support from legislators if it is to grow and prosper.

A range of high level speakers from across the institutions attended the event, with prominent Irish MEPs such as Sean Kelly, Matt Carthy, Mairead McGuinness as well as Jim Nicholson from Armagh whose parliamentary dairy report is dealt with elsewhere in this newsletter.

We were lucky enough also to have representatives from Glanbia Nutritionals to explain what was going on at the cutting edge of Irish dairy, as well as heavily featuring the value added elements of our key dairy marketing coop, Ornua, with a selection of products from the Kerrygold brand.

We also had a stand featuring the ‘Origin Green’ sustainability plan the underline how many Irish dairy farmers were in a quality assurance scheme and the industry in general were driving change in the sector.

By Conor Mulvihill

European Affairs Executive