Strokestown’s John O’Beirne not in the running for IFA Connacht Chairman after the nominees were announced a short time ago by IFA National Returning Officer Jer Bergin.
Former Sligo County Chairman Eddie Davitt and former Mayo County Chairman Padraic Joyce will contest the position
This was the outcome of the nomination process agreed at the IFA AGM whereby the five candidates put forward by their own county executives were entered in a secret ballot by the five Connacht County Chairmen. The count of the ballots was conducted by IFA’s legal advisor James Staines and the result reported to the National Returning Officer.
Voting in the election of the new Connacht Chairman will take place at five county executive meetings to be held in the Connacht counties over two weeks in mid-June.
At the IFA AGM, it was decided in principle that for this election only the weighted vote from the recent Presidential election will not apply and Council will meet in June in advance of the county executive meetings to introduce this provision.
When the original process for nominating the Connacht Regional Chair began Strokestown’s John O’Beirne was the only candidate to receive the required nomination from his own county and another county however he was later disqualified from the process due to the fact that he was not a full-time farmer at the time of his nominations. The rule in question was recently changed at the IFA AGM.