An Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) meeting has ended with a plan to protest at the constituency office of Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon this weekend.

The meeting on Tuesday (February 24) in Athy, Co. Kildare, was organised by the IFA as part of its dispute with Bord Bia over the chairperson of the latter, Larry Murrin.

Following on from a similar meeting in Claremorris, Co. Mayo last week, the latest meeting was again attended by several hundred farmers, many of whom had to stand outside the room in the Clanard Court Hotel where the meeting took place, due to a lack of space.

All IFA members who spoke from the floor where steadfast in their view that the IFA should continue on its present course - or even escalate it - in its dispute with Bord Bia.

Phrases like "see it through" and "double down" were frequent comments from the floor.

Several speakers were heavily critical of how Minister Heydon has handled the dispute so far.

Over the course of the three-hour meeting, several speakers called on the IFA to protest at Minister Heydon's constituency office in Newbridge, Co. Kildare this Saturday (February 28).

After one speaker commented "Newbridge or nowhere", several subsequent speakers also took up the impromptu slogan.

At the conclusion of the meeting, IFA president Francie Gorman agreed that plans would be put in place for a protest to take place.

A protest took place and Minister Heydon's constituency office earlier this month, in which several dozen IFA members took part.

Judging by the emotion and anger on display at the latest meeting, this next protest, assuming it goes ahead, will likely see a considerably higher turnout.

In a highly charged meeting, many speakers suggested that this dispute between the IFA and Bord Bia, and Minister Heydon's and the government's support for Larry Murrin, could harm government parties at the ballot box when the next general election rolls around.

One speaker said that an election is "never too far away" while another speaker claimed that, if there was an election within 12 months, the issue would have been already resolved.

The IFA is calling for Larry Murrin to resign or be removed from his role as chairperson of the board of Bord Bia; or for him to step aside while an IFA-proposed review takes place.

That IFA proposal, first reported by Agriland last weekend, was not directly addressed by any of the speakers from the floor.

However, there was strong praise throughout the meeting for the IFA leadership - including its president Francie Gorman, deputy president Alice Doyle, and its director-general Damian McDonald - in how it has approached the dispute so far, and the leadership was encouraged to continue in that vein.

Politicians

Several politicians attended and spoke at the meeting, all but one of whom were from opposition parties.

Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Martin Kenny, and his party colleague in the Dáil Natasha Newsome-Drennan were in attendance and spoke.

IFA South Leinster regional chairperson Paul O'Brien - who effectively chaired the meeting - said that every government TD from constituencies covered by that IFA region were invited to attend.

It appears that only one did so - Laois Fine Gael Deputy Willie Aird, who also addressed the crowed.

O'Brien gave particular acknowledgement to Deputy Aird for coming to the meeting in spite of the support expressed by his party's leader, Tánaiste Simon Harris, as well as Minister Heydon, for Larry Murrin.

Another speaker to address the crowd was Anna Marie McHugh, assistant managing director of the National Ploughing Association (NPA).

She spoke at the end of the meeting and advised farmers that social media could be a way to get their issues with Bord Bia out to a wider national audience.

She also warned IFA leadership directly to ensure that any action taken as part of its dispute with Bord Bia is done respectfully, so that those actions cannot be used to paint farmers in a negative light.