The chairman of Bord Bia who is at the centre of a controversy over his company’s importation of Brazilian beef is to appear before the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee next week to defend his position.
Larry Murrin, who is also chief executive of Dawn Farms, will next Thursday address and answer questions from the committee of nine TDs and five Senators, chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Aindrias Moynihan.
Mr Murrin’s resignation has been sought after it emerged that Dawn Farms had imported some beef from Brazil, one of the Mercosur countries.
Protests are continuing outside Bord Bia’s Dublin headquarters over the proposed Mercosur trade deal between the European Union and a group of South American countries.
READ MORE
Farming organisations and Sinn Féin have called for Mr Murrin’s resignation, claiming it was a conflict of interest given his role as chairman of Bord Bia in promoting Irish agri-food.
The issue arose when members of the Beef Plan Movement noticed signs outside Subway fast-food outlets stating the chain was provided with beef sourced from approved plants in both Europe and Brazil.
Dawn Farms supplies beef to the chain, but the company stated that Brazilian beef accounted for less than 1 per cent of its supply and none of this was supplied to Subway stores in Ireland.
Sinn Féin will introduced a private member’s debate in the Dáil on Tuesday calling for Mr Murrin’s removal as chairman of Bord Bia.
When Sinn Féin raised the issue in the Dáil on Thursday Tánaiste Simon Harris said “you’ve come for a head and you’re not getting one”.
Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy said: “Larry Murrin’s position is untenable. Confidence has been lost, and he has to go.”
Mr Harris insisted, however, that the Government followed due process and “doesn’t decide that protest removes people from office”.
He said that, when it comes to Sinn Féin, “this isn’t about food on the table. It’s about a head on a plate.” Mr Harris said it is important to raise conflicts and perceived conflicts of interest “but it’s important processes are followed”.
The Tánaiste accused Sinn Féin of taking the position “‘off with his head’ before there was any chance to even engage at all.”
Mr Carthy said there is a crisis of confidence at Bord Bia and this is “entirely of the Government’s own making.
“The chair of Bord Bia is also the head of a company importing Brazilian beef produced to lower standards and weaker safety requirements, but at the same time [is] presiding over the State agency charged with promoting Irish beef produced to the highest environmental welfare and food safety standards.”
“The contradiction goes to the core of Bord Bia’s credibility, and farmers know it.”
He hit out at Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon who, he claimed, launched “an unprecedented attack on the largest farm organisation in the country, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), actually seeking to blame them for this crisis”.
This was “frankly unbelievable, deeply irresponsible, and it shows a Government now lashing out rather than facing up to its own failures”.
Mr Heydon told Sinn Féin spokesman Martin Kenny that the IFA was “refusing to allow its county executive chairs and the chairs of its commodities committees to receive a detailed briefing” from Mr Murrin.
He said the issue “is being conflated and sold in a soundbite way to farmers. No wonder farmers are upset [with] the way it is being sold to them.”
Mr Heydon said 12 of Bord Bia’s 14 members found Mr Murrin’s position “absolutely acceptable”.
President of the IFA Francie Gorman and president of the ICMSA Denis Drennan were the two dissenting members.
Mr Harris added that Mr Murrin had presided over “massive growth” in Irish food exports and he expected food exports to have topped €20 billion for 2025.
Mr Carthy said: “It’s not Larry Murrin or Bord Bia that are actually delivering the highest standards of any farmers anywhere in the world. It’s our primary producers.”
Mr Harris said it was “very disappointing” that the farming organisations had not taken up the offer to meet Mr Murrin.
A spokesman for the IFA said Mr Gorman made two requests for a meeting before the board convened.
At that meeting the IFA president said the chair’s position was untenable because of a conflict between his private company and his public role. Mr Murrin declined to stand down.
Mr Gorman made a formal proposal for Mr Murrin’s removal but was told a report had to go to the Minister. “The report went to the Minister but Mr Heydon already had his statement out expressing full confidence in the chair.”
