Minister ‘failed’ to deal with Bord Bia issues at meeting, says IFA president

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

The Minister for Agriculture has “failed” to deal with the “substantive issue around the loss of farmer confidence in the chair of Bord Bia”, the Irish Farmers Association said.

The organisation issued the statement after Minister Martin Heydon convened a meeting of farmers and agricultural industry representatives on Friday.

It was aimed at tackling a dispute between farming groups and Bord Bia, the state agency, which is charged with promoting and enforcing standards on Irish food.

Its chairman, Larry Murrin, has faced calls to step down after revelations his company Dawn Farm Foods had sourced “less than 1%” of its beef from Brazil last year for contingency planning in a contract.

He has previously said allegations around him having a conflict of interest are “false” and “driven” by social media.

IFA president Francie Gorman said: “The minister and Bord Bia’s ‘kick the can down the road’ approach will not resolve this dispute, which is very regrettable for everyone.

“There is a massive disconnect between farmers and the corporate leadership in Bord Bia.”

In a statement following the meeting, Heydon said: “There was a detailed and thorough discussion in relation to several specific issues related to Bord Bia which have been raised in recent weeks.

“The discussion also focused on what can be done to improve the experience for farmers around audits, while ensuring the Quality Assurance Schemes are future proofed to continue to benefit farmers and the Irish agri-food sector.

“All participants had the chance to express their views and were heard.

“I am pleased that stakeholders engaged constructively.”

He said his department would revisit “the focus on farmer experiences with audits”, establish a farmer forum on Quality Assurance Schemes, and had committed to an information campaign to “better inform” the public about Origin Green and Quality Assurance Schemes.

But Gorman said the Quality Assurance Schemes are “a partnership between farmers, processors, customer-facing businesses and Bord Bia”.

He said: “That partnership is being shattered.”

Gorman continued: “Farmers will not have confidence in Bord Bia while the chair’s company is importing Brazilian beef and chicken.”

The IFA’s protest at the Bord Bia offices will continue, he said.