Heydon should meet with Bord Bia chair and board separately - IFA
The Irish Farmer's Association (IFA) has said that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon should meet with Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin.
The IFA, which began a rolling protest outside Bord Bia headquarters in Dublin on Monday (January 26), said that Murrin's position as chair of Bord Bia is "untenable"and that "farmer confidence will only be restored with his removal".
Earlier this month, Dawn Farm Foods of which Murrin is CEO, confirmed to Agriland that Brazilian beef accounted for 1% of its beef supply in 2025.
This has led to outrage among farm organisations and some politicians, who claim that Murrin's business sourcing beef from Brazil is incompatible with his role of chair of the body tasked with promoting Irish food.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has expressed "full confidence" in Larry Murrin as Bord Bia chair.
IFA
IFA president Francie Gorman has confirmed that he has responded to correspondence received from Minister Martin Heydon on Monday evening.
The minister encouraged IFA to take up an offer from the chair of Bord Bia to attend an IFA council meeting to give a briefing on his company’s usage of Brazilian beef.
"I advised the minister that I had declined this offer at the board meeting last Thursday.
"The National Council has a firm view that the Bord Bia chairman should step down. This is the position and it won’t change.
"In our reply, I suggested that the minister himself should engage with Larry Murrin to explain that Bord Bia cannot operate without farmers,” he said.
The IFA president also requested that Minister Heydon meet the board of Bord Bia without the chair to discuss the current situation.
"At the board meeting last week, no vote was taken. I made a proposal that the chair be removed and this was seconded by the ICMSA president Denis Drennan.
"However, no vote was taken and no counter proposal was made or seconded," he said.
Gorman said that a statement issued by Jim O'Toole, chief executive of Bord Bia, shortly after last week's meeting "did not fully reflect the nuances of what was said at the meeting".
"A lot has happened since the last board meeting. Quality Assurance meetings have been called off; protests mounted outside Bord Bia; and TDs from government and opposition parties are expressing no confidence in the chair.
"The minister and the board cannot ignore how the situation has developed,” he said.“I think the minister needs to sit down with the board members and the chair, separately, to resolve this matter before any more damage is done to Bord Bia,” he said.
On Monday evening, Bord Bia wrote to both farmer organisations on the board, requesting a meeting of senior representatives to discuss the impasse and possible solutions, as soon as possible.
"The IFA declined to engage until such time as the chair is no longer in office.
"Within Bord Bia's request, we reiterated the chair's offer to address the IFA National Council.
"Bord Bia remain open to constructive dialogue and finding a resolution," a spokesperson for the Irish food board said.
Committee
Meanwhile, the Oireachtas Committee for Agriculture and Food is to invite Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin to appear before it.
During a meeting of the committee yesterday, there was a request from Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture and TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, Peter 'Chap' Cleere for Larry Murrin to be invited to address the committee.
He is among several Fianna Fáil TDs who have called on Larry Murrin to consider his position as chair of Bord Bia.
