The focus of Bord Bia and the government should be on the concerning situation of falling milk and beef prices now.

That's according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) in response to the publication of an independent report into governance of the Bord Bia board.

President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, who is also a member of the Bord Bia board said that the farm organisation had now noted the contents of the independent report, which will be considered at the next meeting of the ICMSA's board.

The board of Bord Bia met today Friday (June 12) with senior officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to discuss this review into the governance of the Irish Food Board.

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 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 Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) at Bord Bia headquarters earlier this year.

The IFA had called for the resignation or removal of the chair of Bord Bia, Larry Murrin.

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, which is company is entitled to do.

Bord Bia

Denis Drennan has said in response to the review: "ICMSA considers it critical that the focus of government and Bord Bia turns now to milk price that is below the cost of production for nine months, and the absolute crash in beef prices that is in the process of wiping out the profits made in 2025.

"[This is] the first time in three decades that farmers made money supplying beef.

"There has been a very definite feel amongst farmers that the government’s eyes have been ‘off the ball’ for far too long and we need to get back to focussing on matters that go directly to protecting farm income immediately," Drennan added.