Farmers have escalated their campaign to have the chairman of Bord Bia removed by staging a protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon in Co Kildare.
An estimated 2,000 people, along with 200 tractors, assembled outside Heydon’s Newbridge office before holding a 2km convoy protest around the town.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has been calling for the removal of Larry Murrin since it emerged that his company, Dawn Farms, had been importing Brazilian beef.
The farmers claim the Brazilian meat he is importing into Ireland does not have the same standards or traceability as Irish produce and, therefore, that his actions are incompatible with his role as Bord Bia chairman.
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Farmers from the southeast met earlier in the day in Crookstown, Co Kildare, and approximately 100 tractors drove past Heydon’s home on the way to the protest.
“It’s pure frustration. We want him [Heydon] to see sense,” said Jamie Kealy, who drove his tractor from Co Carlow for the event.
“He needs to step back and realise that there is no Bord Bia without the farmers. There is a conflict of interest and double standards here.
“Murrin can do what he likes in his own business, but he can’t be chairman of Bord Bia at the same time.”
Heydon was not present at his office on Saturday afternoon, but on Friday afternoon he had issued a defiant statement saying he had “full confidence” in Murrin, pointing to his appearance in front of the Oireachtas committee in early February, in which he defended his position.
Murrin claimed that only 1 per cent of his beef came from Brazil and that Dawn Farms, as a major food processor internationally, had a duty to source food for its customers “no matter the circumstances”. He denied any conflict of interest between his role as a beef importer and his chairmanship of Bord Bia.
The demonstration outside Heydon’s office was organised by the IFA following a series of regional meetings.
There were loud cheers when IFA president Francie Gorman praised the five farmers who have spent 25 days occupying the offices of Bord Bia in Dublin in protest against Murrin’s continued chairmanship.
Bord Bia thought by ignoring the protest and “letting them rot inside” that the farmers would eventually give up, he told the crowd.
“That was never going to happen. We are going to see this through,” Gorman said. “Everyone of us is quality-assured under the Bord Bia scheme. None of us want to see the rug pulled from under Bord Bia, but it cannot continue the way it is going on.
“Confidence in Bord Bia for us farmers will not be restored while the chairman stays in place.”
IFA executive Paul O’Brien said the depth of anger about Murrin’s continued chairmanship of Bord Bia was palpable among the protesting farmers.
“We are disgusted with the way that this is being handled by the Minister. We know Brazil has suspicious food standards. This is fundamentally wrong.”
A spokesman for Heydon said the Minister had offered that the whole board of Bord Bia, including the chairman, would step down for six to eight weeks to allow for an independent governance review of the State agency, but this had been rejected.
“They are just protesting for the sake of protesting at this stage,” he said.
The IFA national council is meeting in the morning and the board of Bord Bia is due to meet on Monday to discuss the issue further.
