Gardaí were called to the scene of a clash between two sides of a bitter dispute that is dividing the Beef Plan Movement on Friday night.
Several gardaí were called to St Michael’s Community Hall in Holycross, where up to 30 people tried to gain access to a meeting and were prevented by those inside, who had employed private security staff to man the door.
Beef Plan co-chairs Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley sat in a meeting that they endorsed as the Tipperary AGM and election, while outside numerous members of the national committee insisted that the meeting was not a legitimate AGM and any election conducted would be null and void.
The national committee and the co-chairs are at loggerheads since Doyle and Corley moved to stand down the national committee down a week ago.
A physical altercation at the door saw up to 30 people prevented from entering. Those inside claimed that the people trying to gain entry were barging their way in, while those outside claimed they were shoved back.
St Michael's Hall, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
The foyer of St Michael’s Community Hall was thronged with security personnel and Beef Plan members, with others trying to access from outside.
When the doors were closed, one of those inside the hall was Joe Trehy, the man who led the first Beef Plan factory protest as Tipperary chair, while outside was Catherine Guest, the woman who says she has been the Tipperary chair since Trehy resigned the position in late August.
Physically pushed back
Guest told the Irish Farmers Journal that she was physically pushed back from the door by two men she knew and named. One was from Tipperary and the other from outside the county, she said.
“Never in my life did I dream something like this would happen,” Guest said, describing heckling and pushing, and saying that she was in shock at being pushed back.
When asked, the gardaí who attended the scene said they had received no report of assault on the night.
Guest was joined by others including Beef Plan southwest regional chair Dermot O’Brien and Alan O’Brien, one of four directors of the Beef Plan Company Limited by Guarantee (the others being Hugh Doyle, Enda Fingleton and Kevin O’Brien).
Among the 25 to 30 people outside were Beef Plan officers from 11 counties, including Kerry, Sligo, Offaly, Cork, Monaghan, Waterford, Leitrim, Donegal, Kilkenny, Galway and Clare.
Inside the door there were Beef Plan members from other counties too, manning the door.
Guest was told that as a paid up Tipperary member she could come in but she declined unless some of those with her could also go in.
A sign outside the hall.
Meeting
Inside the inner meeting hall, Joe Trehy spoke to 28 people in a room that had seating set out for 144.
He worked through an agenda that included a chair’s report, secretary’s report and finance report, saying that he would “prefer to be doing this in slightly better circumstances than what’s happening outside the door”.
Finances and members
Treasurer Ken O’Neill told the room that the finances were very straightforward – Beef Plan Tipperary “has a bottom line of zero. We have nothing.” He added that all the money collected from members had been sent to Meath.
Mary Ryan, secretary, said that there are 378 paid-up members in Tipperary and about 1,000 members of WhatsApp groups.
The beginning of the meeting in the inner hall in Holycross.
A sheet distributed to those present detailed those nominated for positions on the Tipperary committee.
The sheet detailing nominations for county positions.
Both Trehy and Catherine Guest had been nominated for the position of chair. However, it was said in the room and written on the sheet that Guest had not accepted the nomination.
Trehy told the meeting that a second offer was being made to Guest to take up her nomination, join the meeting and contest the election for the position of chair. However, Guest did not join the meeting.
Later that night she told the Irish Farmers Journal that she had told her proposer earlier this week that no Beef Plan business or meetings could be carried out legally until after an EGM (called for 26 January).
“Aggrieved”
A speaker from the floor, Francis Bourke, asked if they would consider not proceeding with the election, “in light of the animosity tonight”, adding that as a paid-up member of Beef Plan he was aggrieved.
“I’m friends with members inside and outside tonight,” Burke said.
“I don’t know what other members think but it’s difficult to have the confidence to vote tonight. I have nothing against any side but I care about the success of the Beef Plan but the past few weeks, it’s been worse than the FAI,” he said. “I think that progressing tonight would put us in a worse position.”
I don’t know what other members think but it’s difficult to have the confidence to vote tonight
He also queried the GDPR process for a member who wished to resign and how Beef Plan would erase information held about him.
Beef Plan meeting, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
Another member spoke from the floor to say that he had seen a power struggle in the last month in which people were only looking for position for themselves and urged the top table to move on with the election.
“I genuinely believe that if we don’t move on tonight, we’re just going give the people who are outside the door, the people who don’t give a sh*te about the price of beef, we’re going to give the power back to them,” he said, to a round of applause.
The people who don’t give a sh*te about the price of beef, we’re going to give the power back to them
Another farmer asked where there information had been supplied about the nominations, as he had not seen them, while there was some confusion over a meeting that was scheduled, cancelled but ultimately went ahead in October 2019.
Another member asked if they would take nominations for all positions from the floor on the night but was told by secretary Mary Ryan that the only position open was that of assistant secretary.
Eamon Corley was asked from the floor what his opinion was of the meeting.
Corley said he and Hugh Doyle were at the meeting as “spectators and observers” and that counties were obliged to hold their elections before the AGM, scheduled for 8 February.
“There’s around 25-30 people here, it’s not a bad crowd for an AGM,” he said. He added that when the Beef Plan was first set up, everyone who put their hand up got a job but that it was time to “kickstart the right way” by holding elections.
Election
Limerick man Diarmuid Henebry took over the chair from Joe Trehy for the election section of the meeting and there was no competition for the roles.
They were:
Chair: Joseph Trehy.Vice-chair: Seamus O’Brien.Secretary: Mary Ryan.Treasurer: Ken O’Neill.Registrar: Daniel Long.PRO: Alison De Vere Hunt (not present on the night). 
Left to right, Ken O'Neill, Mary Ryan, Joe Trehy, Seamus O'Brien and Daniel Long.
Outsiders
While all that was going on, those outside the door continued to make representations to gardaí and Beef Plan personnel on the door to be allowed inside.
As the meeting was reaching its final moments, a deal was brokered.
Paid-up Tipperary members were allowed to enter the hall after having their names checked against a list of members.
St Michael's Hall, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
Only four were allowed in, with one of those having to produce his passport to prove his identity.
Another four people – Catherine Guest, Dermot O’Brien (southwest regional chair), Helen O’Sullivan (Cork Beef Plan) and Alan O’Brien (director of the Beef Plan company) were admitted to the foyer.
They requested access to the meeting to address the people inside but this was denied.
When asked by the Irish Farmers Journal why Beef Plan members from 11 counties had arrived for a Tipperary meeting, Dermot O’Brien said: “We feel very, very strongly about how Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley have treated county officers. Basically, in our opinion, they have ignored our requests for transparency and accountability.”
Transparency
Earlier this week, Hugh Doyle responded to questions about the Beef Plan’s accounts by offering to have them independently audited and made available to the national committee.
That offer came after a chaotic Galway meeting in which the planned election had to be abandoned when a row broke out over the membership of a Beef Plan representative, Eoin Donnelly.
'No interest in national divisions'
A statement issued by Joe Trehy after the meeting said that the “meeting went ahead with the strict rule of Tipperary Beef Plan members only. The committee stated that Tipperary Beef Plan has no interest in national divisions or point scoring but wanted to get their region back to the main business of beef plan and are operating within the rules of governance of the organisation.
“In times of instability we must resort to when all was calm, in this scenario, all the rules of Beef Plan were passed by all members and they clearly state AGMs must be completed by 15 January.
“At Tipperary Beef Plan we have absolutely no time for egos or personal agendas and just want to represent our members in the best and fairest way possible,’’ said Trehy.
Read more
Beef Plan accounts: independent audit on way
Outside farmers turned Galway Beef Plan meeting ‘on its head’
Beef Plan chaos: power struggle and financial questions
Beef Plan Movement stands down committees amid disciplinary issues
Gardaí were called to the scene of a clash between two sides of a bitter dispute that is dividing the Beef Plan Movement on Friday night.
Several gardaí were called to St Michael’s Community Hall in Holycross, where up to 30 people tried to gain access to a meeting and were prevented by those inside, who had employed private security staff to man the door.
Beef Plan co-chairs Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley sat in a meeting that they endorsed as the Tipperary AGM and election, while outside numerous members of the national committee insisted that the meeting was not a legitimate AGM and any election conducted would be null and void.
The national committee and the co-chairs are at loggerheads since Doyle and Corley moved to stand down the national committee down a week ago.
A physical altercation at the door saw up to 30 people prevented from entering. Those inside claimed that the people trying to gain entry were barging their way in, while those outside claimed they were shoved back.
St Michael's Hall, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
The foyer of St Michael’s Community Hall was thronged with security personnel and Beef Plan members, with others trying to access from outside.
When the doors were closed, one of those inside the hall was Joe Trehy, the man who led the first Beef Plan factory protest as Tipperary chair, while outside was Catherine Guest, the woman who says she has been the Tipperary chair since Trehy resigned the position in late August.
Physically pushed back
Guest told the Irish Farmers Journal that she was physically pushed back from the door by two men she knew and named. One was from Tipperary and the other from outside the county, she said.
“Never in my life did I dream something like this would happen,” Guest said, describing heckling and pushing, and saying that she was in shock at being pushed back.
When asked, the gardaí who attended the scene said they had received no report of assault on the night.
Guest was joined by others including Beef Plan southwest regional chair Dermot O’Brien and Alan O’Brien, one of four directors of the Beef Plan Company Limited by Guarantee (the others being Hugh Doyle, Enda Fingleton and Kevin O’Brien).
Among the 25 to 30 people outside were Beef Plan officers from 11 counties, including Kerry, Sligo, Offaly, Cork, Monaghan, Waterford, Leitrim, Donegal, Kilkenny, Galway and Clare.
Inside the door there were Beef Plan members from other counties too, manning the door.
Guest was told that as a paid up Tipperary member she could come in but she declined unless some of those with her could also go in.
A sign outside the hall.
Meeting
Inside the inner meeting hall, Joe Trehy spoke to 28 people in a room that had seating set out for 144.
He worked through an agenda that included a chair’s report, secretary’s report and finance report, saying that he would “prefer to be doing this in slightly better circumstances than what’s happening outside the door”.
Finances and members
Treasurer Ken O’Neill told the room that the finances were very straightforward – Beef Plan Tipperary “has a bottom line of zero. We have nothing.” He added that all the money collected from members had been sent to Meath.
Mary Ryan, secretary, said that there are 378 paid-up members in Tipperary and about 1,000 members of WhatsApp groups.
The beginning of the meeting in the inner hall in Holycross.
A sheet distributed to those present detailed those nominated for positions on the Tipperary committee.
The sheet detailing nominations for county positions.
Both Trehy and Catherine Guest had been nominated for the position of chair. However, it was said in the room and written on the sheet that Guest had not accepted the nomination.
Trehy told the meeting that a second offer was being made to Guest to take up her nomination, join the meeting and contest the election for the position of chair. However, Guest did not join the meeting.
Later that night she told the Irish Farmers Journal that she had told her proposer earlier this week that no Beef Plan business or meetings could be carried out legally until after an EGM (called for 26 January).
“Aggrieved”
A speaker from the floor, Francis Bourke, asked if they would consider not proceeding with the election, “in light of the animosity tonight”, adding that as a paid-up member of Beef Plan he was aggrieved.
“I’m friends with members inside and outside tonight,” Burke said.
“I don’t know what other members think but it’s difficult to have the confidence to vote tonight. I have nothing against any side but I care about the success of the Beef Plan but the past few weeks, it’s been worse than the FAI,” he said. “I think that progressing tonight would put us in a worse position.”
I don’t know what other members think but it’s difficult to have the confidence to vote tonight
He also queried the GDPR process for a member who wished to resign and how Beef Plan would erase information held about him.
Beef Plan meeting, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
Another member spoke from the floor to say that he had seen a power struggle in the last month in which people were only looking for position for themselves and urged the top table to move on with the election.
“I genuinely believe that if we don’t move on tonight, we’re just going give the people who are outside the door, the people who don’t give a sh*te about the price of beef, we’re going to give the power back to them,” he said, to a round of applause.
The people who don’t give a sh*te about the price of beef, we’re going to give the power back to them
Another farmer asked where there information had been supplied about the nominations, as he had not seen them, while there was some confusion over a meeting that was scheduled, cancelled but ultimately went ahead in October 2019.
Another member asked if they would take nominations for all positions from the floor on the night but was told by secretary Mary Ryan that the only position open was that of assistant secretary.
Eamon Corley was asked from the floor what his opinion was of the meeting.
Corley said he and Hugh Doyle were at the meeting as “spectators and observers” and that counties were obliged to hold their elections before the AGM, scheduled for 8 February.
“There’s around 25-30 people here, it’s not a bad crowd for an AGM,” he said. He added that when the Beef Plan was first set up, everyone who put their hand up got a job but that it was time to “kickstart the right way” by holding elections.
Election
Limerick man Diarmuid Henebry took over the chair from Joe Trehy for the election section of the meeting and there was no competition for the roles.
They were:
Chair: Joseph Trehy.Vice-chair: Seamus O’Brien.Secretary: Mary Ryan.Treasurer: Ken O’Neill.Registrar: Daniel Long.PRO: Alison De Vere Hunt (not present on the night).
Left to right, Ken O'Neill, Mary Ryan, Joe Trehy, Seamus O'Brien and Daniel Long.
Outsiders
While all that was going on, those outside the door continued to make representations to gardaí and Beef Plan personnel on the door to be allowed inside.
As the meeting was reaching its final moments, a deal was brokered.
Paid-up Tipperary members were allowed to enter the hall after having their names checked against a list of members.
St Michael's Hall, Holycross, Co Tipperary.
Only four were allowed in, with one of those having to produce his passport to prove his identity.
Another four people – Catherine Guest, Dermot O’Brien (southwest regional chair), Helen O’Sullivan (Cork Beef Plan) and Alan O’Brien (director of the Beef Plan company) were admitted to the foyer.
They requested access to the meeting to address the people inside but this was denied.
When asked by the Irish Farmers Journal why Beef Plan members from 11 counties had arrived for a Tipperary meeting, Dermot O’Brien said: “We feel very, very strongly about how Hugh Doyle and Eamon Corley have treated county officers. Basically, in our opinion, they have ignored our requests for transparency and accountability.”
Transparency
Earlier this week, Hugh Doyle responded to questions about the Beef Plan’s accounts by offering to have them independently audited and made available to the national committee.
That offer came after a chaotic Galway meeting in which the planned election had to be abandoned when a row broke out over the membership of a Beef Plan representative, Eoin Donnelly.
'No interest in national divisions'
A statement issued by Joe Trehy after the meeting said that the “meeting went ahead with the strict rule of Tipperary Beef Plan members only. The committee stated that Tipperary Beef Plan has no interest in national divisions or point scoring but wanted to get their region back to the main business of beef plan and are operating within the rules of governance of the organisation.
“In times of instability we must resort to when all was calm, in this scenario, all the rules of Beef Plan were passed by all members and they clearly state AGMs must be completed by 15 January.
“At Tipperary Beef Plan we have absolutely no time for egos or personal agendas and just want to represent our members in the best and fairest way possible,’’ said Trehy.
Read more
Beef Plan accounts: independent audit on way
Outside farmers turned Galway Beef Plan meeting ‘on its head’
Beef Plan chaos: power struggle and financial questions
Beef Plan Movement stands down committees amid disciplinary issues
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