Mike Magan

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Monday, 24 June 2024 at 3 p.m.

TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIMON MORE on 24 June 2024, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on MIKE MAGAN

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UCD President Professor Orla Feely, College Principal Professor Cecily Kelleher, UCD School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Professor Rory Breathnach, students, colleagues, guests, and particularly the family and friends of our esteemed guest Mike Magan.

I am delighted to share with you some thoughts about Mike Magan who today will be awarded an honorary degree by this University. Mike Magan is a dairy farmer from Killashee in Co. Longford, on land that his family have farmed for six generations.

Until recently, Mike was the inaugural Chair of a very important national organisation called Animal Health Ireland. But before I elaborate on his significant contribution to this organisation, I would like to give some background information about Irish agriculture, particularly as it relates to farmed animals.

Ireland exports 85-90% of beef and dairy production each year, to a combined value in 2023 of €9.2 billion. To remain competitive in a global market, there has been an ongoing need for continuous improvement in product quality, including the health and welfare of Ireland’s food producing animals.

Historically, the Irish government has been in charge of animal health issues here, leading, managing and – indeed – primarily paying for all of the important control and eradication programmes, such as bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis and BSE (also known as mad cow disease). This government-led model was very different from that of other leading food exporting countries, such as the Netherlands and New Zealand, where national animal health issues have been tackled either directly by industry or as a government-industry partnership.

In 2004 and 2005, a number of us, at UCD and in government, recognised the importance of these international lessons, and of the need for government and the farming industry to work strategically and in partnership.

Mike Magan was central to these discussions and instrumental in translating these aspirations to reality. Animal Health Ireland (or AHI) was established in 2009 and, with Mike as Chair, created the opportunity for this partnership approach to animal health in Ireland, bringing together farmers, processors, animal health advisors, and government. In its early years, dairy production was its primary focus, and this has since expanded to also consider beef, sheep, pigs and poultry. AHI has fundamentally changed the animal health landscape in Ireland.

In his 13 years as AHI Chair, Mike Magan utilised all of his skills, as leader, team player, and consummate communicator. He was pivotal in shaping the strategic direction of the organisation, consistently pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible. In meetings, he was invariably inclusive, and his very presence made you feel welcome. It has always been a privilege to work alongside him. He is a man deeply committed to the common good.

I acknowledge others who have played a key role in the development of AHI during Mike’s chairmanship, all who are with us today, including Martin Blake (Ireland’s Chief Veterinary Officer), Joe O’Flaherty and Dr David Graham (the first two CEOs of AHI), and Professor Michael Doherty (from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine). I also acknowledge the current AHI Chair James Lynch and CEO Kevin McConnell.

At Mike Magan’s retirement as AHI Chair in December 2021, Charlie McConalogue TD, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, noted (and I quote): “Mike Magan has been and will continue to be one of the great leaders of the agri-sector. Mike’s leadership in the space of animal health has ensured our sector is better placed to face the challenges we will encounter in the future.”

Through his contributions to AHI, Mike Magan has also substantially impacted both the curriculum within our School of Veterinary Medicine and the work undertaken by private veterinary practitioners. In particular, there has been a fundamental shift towards preventive herd health, underpinned by the AHI programmes, and this is strongly reflected in teaching and learning of veterinary undergraduates in the area of food animal production.

Before I conclude, I wish to note that Mike is also a man of great generosity of spirit. As one example, in 2020 he coordinated dairy cooperatives nationwide to arrange collection of over €300,000 in voluntary subscriptions from dairy farmers for the Irish Red Cross Appeal for Yemen.

Very sadly, in 2004, Mike and his wife Mary lost their young son James to cancer. As perhaps the most poignant example of the kindness of this man, Mike subsequently became a lifetime blood platelet donor, visiting St James’s hospital in Dublin to donate on 156 occasions.

With this honorary degree, we in University College Dublin acknowledge Mike Magan’s extraordinary contribution to the Irish dairy industry, to Animal Health Ireland, to UCD, and indeed to Irish society more broadly.

Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,

Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.