Farm organisation digs its heels in over opposition to Bord Bia chair
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is not planning to step back its opposition to Larry Murrin remaining in the position of chair of the board of Bord Bia.
The IFA National Council, consisting of elected representatives of farmers from all commodities and all counties, discussed the recent Bord Bia review at its most recent meeting.
The review, carried out by Governance Ireland, found no fundamental governance failure but identified weaknesses in board culture, understanding of roles, and governance practices and put forward a list of 22 recommendations to address these.
The independent governance review of the board of Bord Bia had been commissioned by DAFM and was part of the agreement that ended weeks of protests by the IFA at Bord Bia headquarters earlier this year.
The protests had been held by the IFA following confirmation that Murrin's company, Dawn Farm Foods, sourced 1% of its beef supply from Brazil in 2025.
The IFA had called for the resignation or removal of the chair of Bord Bia, Larry Murrin at the time.
The IFA council has today stated that its members are "adamant that farmer confidence in Bord Bia cannot be restored" under Larry Murrin’s chairmanship.
“The [IFA] council [is] frustrated and angry that the review was not in line with the agreed terms of reference as it turned out to be only a ‘board effectiveness review’," IFA president Francie Gorman has stated.
"It did not deal with the issues that caused and escalated this dispute. There are important recommendations in the review, but it did not fulfil what was in the original Terms of Reference.
“We met the minister last week and he said that he wants the 22 recommendations in the review to be implemented which is important.
"However, he stated that he will not take any further action on the issues which caused this dispute,” he said.
The IFA has now accused Minister Heydon of supporting "double standards".
“Bord Bia and the processing sector have been pushing for higher standards under their Quality Assurance Schemes. However, they have now lost credibility with farmers on standards," Gorman added.
The farmer representative said that farmers are now unwilling to accept any additional asks as part of Bord Bia QA schemes.
"The whole QA process needs to be simplified, not complicated further,” Gorman said.
“For years, Bord Bia has used the image of Irish farmers to promote Origin Green. They use the tagline ‘powered by partnership’. That partnership is broken.
“There was a strong view from the elected [IFA] National Council members on the need for a full review of Origin Green as a matter of urgency,” he said.
