Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has confirmed that he will meet with both the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) on the Bord Bia governance review.

The review was published last week, and came as part of an agreement to end IFA protests at the Bord Bia head office in Dublin earlier in the year.

The protests related to Bord Bia board chairperson Larry Murrin and his business, Dawn Farm Foods, sourcing some beef from Brazil.

Following the publication of the review, which was carried out by consultancy firm Governance Ireland, IFA president Francie Gorman said "there are number of very important recommendations in this review, which are a clear acknowledgment that significant change is needed".

"However, the report did not deal with a number of wider issues as they were deemed to be outside the scope of the governance review. This is acknowledged in the review itself," Gorman added.

The IFA said it was seeking an "urgent meeting" with Minister Heydon on the Bord Bia review.

The minister said last week that he wanted to develop an action plan to implement the recommendations of the report.

Speaking today (Wednesday, June 17), the minister confirmed he will meet the IFA and ICMSA - which are both represented on the board of Bord Bia - tomorrow (Thursday, June 18).

"I’ve agreed to those requests for meetings, and I'm meeting the IFA and ICMSA separately tomorrow in my department," he said.

He added: "I welcome the report from Governance Ireland, I'd like to thanks Governance Ireland for undertaking this work.

"They’ve come up with 22 recommendations. I'm engaging with the chairperson and the board of Bord Bia now to see the development of a coordinated action plan of these recommendations as soon as possible," Minister Heydon said.

The minister was speaking at an event in Portlaoise organised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for agri-sector stakeholders, ahead of Ireland taking up the presidency of the Council of the EU.