Huge crowds gathered at the Cavan Crystal Hotel in Co. Cavan last night (Wednesday, February 25) for a public meeting on the ongoing farmer protest at the Bord Bia headquarters in Dublin.

The meeting outlined the perspective of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) leaderships on the current impasse.

No agreements were reached at the meeting despite a broad range of proposals being put forward from the large crowd in attendance.

People attending the meeting were encouraged to support an additional protest at Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon's constituency office in Newbridge, Co. Kildare on Saturday (February 28).

Interestingly, no young farmer representatives spoke at the meeting with Macra not in attendance in an official capacity.

Macra has since contacted Agriland to clarify it "was not invited by the organisers to attend in an official capacity" and was also not invited to speak at the meeting.

The topic of Mercosur grain imports being used on Irish farms was not mentioned on the night.

IFA

Speaking at the event, IFA president Francie Gorman said that he has spoken to the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Agriculture and there has still been "no movement".

He said that the IFA has put forward its demands and Minister Heydon has put forward his proposals "but it doesn't involve the [Bord Bia] chairman vacating his position or stepping aside".

Gorman said: "We have got to see a resolution that sees the chairman stepping away from his position. Anything less is not going to start solving this issue."

"If this is not drawn to a conclusion sooner rather than later, we're going to have no Bord Bia," the IFA president said.

"It's a regret to me that we find ourselves in a position that we are today with our food marketing board marred in controversary," he added.

Gorman said "there's going to be trouble at retailer and processor level when they go to sell our product if this isn't sorted out".

He said the support for their protest "has been absolutely phenomenal".

The Monaghan IFA county chair Tom Treanor made a series of suggestions to escalate the IFA action, but also noted that farmers on the road every day going to Dublin to protest "is not good" and that "it's dangerous".

"The trouble is there's a lot of damage being done to the reputation of Bord Bia and that's a shame," he said.

Bord Bia

A roving mic was passed through the crowd with an array of proposals coming from the people in attendance.

Several speakers agreed with the IFA president that the Bord Bia chair "has to go" and others called for the Minister for Agriculture to resign also.

Several farmers who spoke on the night suggested suspending Bord Bia farm audits and others suggested further escalation of the IFA protest efforts with a wider protest in Dublin City suggested.

Some of the crowd also expressed hope that a resolution could be reached and the five farmers still inside the Bord Bia offices could return to their farms and families.

The meeting ended with final comments from the IFA president on the decision to protest outside Minister Heydon's office in Co. Kildare this weekend.

"What we do in Newbridge on Saturday, we need to be able to sustain it.

"Whether its Newbridge or Dublin or Dawn Farm Foods, if we go there, we're going to do it in a way that we can sustain it and make sure to get a result, get these five people home, get a new chairman of Bord Bia and get back on track," Gorman said.

Protest impasse

Five farmers remain inside the Bord Bia offices and have been there for over three weeks now.

The rolling farmer protest outside the Bord Bia offices has been continuing for over 30 days and to date, no progress has been made.

The IFA has said that its protest will continue until Larry Murrin resigns or is removed as chair of Bord Bia.

Farm organisations and some politicians have called on Larry Murrin to resign as Bord Bia chair following confirmation that his business, Dawn Farm Foods, sourced 1% of its beef from Brazil in 2025.

They claim Murrin's company sourcing Brazilian beef is "incompatible" with his role at Bord Bia which is tasked with promoting Irish agri-food produce.

Murrin has stated he has "never been conflicted" in undertaking his role at Bord Bia, "which is to lead the board and ensure its effectiveness".

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon have backed Murrin to remain as the chair of Bord Bia.