merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, TD, announced today that he has appointed Mr Padraig Gibbons as the new chair of the independent Commonage Implementation Committee.

“I am very pleased to say that Mr Padraig Gibbons has agreed to chair the Commonage Implementation Committee”, the Minister said noting that Mr Gibbons, a farmer from Mayo, has experience of all aspects of the agricultural sector, and has previously chaired the independent appeals committees established to deal with both the operation of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme and the review of the Land Parcel Identification System.

Mr Gibbons is a prominent figure in Irish agriculture, being a former President of the Irish Cooperative Organisation Society (ICOS), the coordinating body for the cooperative movement and a member of the ICOS Board. He is a former chairperson and current board member of Aurivo and a member of the Boards of Teagasc and the National Dairy Council.
Mr. Gibbons will be joined on the committee by nominees from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and the Gaeltacht Affairs and Teagasc. The committee, whose work on outstanding cases will commence shortly, will have a role in examining cases where there may be disagreement or difficulties in reaching agreement between active shareholders in the preparation of a GLAS Commonage Management Plan.