Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae has slammed Sinn Féin and other opposition parties for what he called "paying lip service" to farmers over the Larry Murrin controversy.

In the Dáil last night (Wednesday, February 4), TDs debated a Sinn Féin motion to remove Murrin as chair of Bord Bia over his role as CEO of Dawn Farm Foods, which sources some of its beef from Brazil.

Although the motion was not voted on last night due to a government amendment to it (which would have effectively reversed the meaning of the motion to expressing support for Murrin), it nonetheless generated fiery debate, particularly when Minister Healy-Rae stood up to speak.

The minister (who is a junior minister at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) told the Dáil: "I'm here as a member of government but I'm also here as a life-long member of the IFA [Irish Farmers' Association], a thing that I'm proud of.

"If IFA are hitching their trailer to the Sinn Féin wagon, that worries me," he added, prompting loud interruptions from opposition benches.

In his remarks - which were interspersed with occasional shouting matches between the minister and Sinn Féin TDs - he addressed directly IFA members that were in the Dáil chamber, including its president Francie Gorman.

"IFA, I want to tell you a thing [about] Sinn Féin and what they are doing. They wake up in the morning, they wet their finger, they see which way the wind is blowing, and they go that way... That's Sinn Féin's policy for the day," Minister Healy-Rae claimed.

The minister also claimed that Sinn Féin was "using" the IFA leadership, and that IFA members "up and down the length and breath of the country...know what this crowd are at".

"You have the most genuine people in the world that are at a protest at a time when they should be at home, because they have enough to be doing," the minister said.

"I'm sorry we are in this situation, but how it could have been handled was by dialogue, not be entrenchment, not be people saying it has to be this way, it has to be a head."

Moving on to other opposition TDs, Healy-Rae accused one Social Democrat TD of "paying lip service" to the IFA.

Although he did not identify that TD by name, he was referring to Wicklow TD Jennifer Whitmore (who made it clear she did not support the motion to remove Larry Murrin, although she expressed agreement with the concerns raised by the IFA).

Nitrates derogation

Minister Healy-Rae criticised Whitmore's record on the nitrates derogation for Ireland, which she was opposed to extending.

Again addressing IFA members, Minister Healy-Rae said: "[Whitmore] stood up at a meeting, and you were there Francie, and you heard what she said, she tried to undermine and sabotage the nitrates derogation that [Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon] was trying to get extended on your behalf."

Minister Healy-Rae was referring to a stakeholder and political meeting on the derogation with the European Commissioner for Environment Jessika Roswall in November.

He claimed Whitmore was "paying lip service to you, the same as these people [Sinn Féin] are paying lip service".

"See what you're seeing tonight and see the people that are working for you, that work with you, that represent you," Minister Healy-Rae said.