‘The trust has gone’ – farming orgs react to Murrin hearing before agri committee
Representatives from several farming groups have expressed disappointment in today's Oireachtas agri committee meeting with Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin, saying it "ended up going around in circles".
Murrin's appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food today (February 5), following his admission that his business Dawn Farm Foods, sources some beef from Brazil.
This has caused some controversy in the agricultural sector, leading to protests at Bord Bia earlier this week, and outside Leinster House today (February 5).
Farming organisations
Representatives from numerous farming organisations talked to Agriland about the day's events.
John O’Reilly, south-east representative for the Irish Beef and Lamb Association (IBLA) said that Murrin “absolutely drew down the clock there on every question”.
“He had to ask some of the lads to repeat [their] question. It was a complete winding down [of] the clock,” O’Reilly said.
“We gave a lot of our time to be here today to get answers.
"We're going home the same way as we came up. We still have no confidence in Bord Bia and the way they’re behaving.”
Dennis Drennan, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), said: “I think we ended up going around in circles there today.
“We need to get past this impasse. The minister needs to call everybody around the table and get a solution to this, because there are far more pressing issues out there as farmers.
“Milk prices are in collapse, the CAP budget is being discussed at the moment, we have bluetongue in the country, and we have to sort out animal transport regulations that would come under scrutiny in the next couple of months.
“So they're huge issues. You can't have just one issue paralysing the whole agriculture sector," the ICMSA president added.
John Joe Fitzgerald, vice president of Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) was also in attendance.
He said: “For us to have confidence in Bord Bia, I think the whole board needs to step aside until we figure this out.
“At the moment, I don't think Larry's going to step down or step aside, and that's regrettable.
"But at the end of the day, the minister [Heydon] needs to come out and Bord Bia needs to recognise that we, as farmers, are not happy here. The trust has gone. And we need to build trust.”
Francie Gorman, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association said: “I think the chairman has to consider his position if he's going to repair [his] reputation among farmers.”
