Two meetings of Bord Bia’s technical advisory committee (TAC) have been cancelled next week amid an ongoing controversy around the State body’s chair Larry Murrin.
News of the cancellation came within an hour of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) announcing it would not attend next week’s meetings owing to the Murrin controversy.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said it had been planning to also pull out of the meetings and protest outside.
A spokesperson for Bord Bia confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that the meetings would not go ahead as planned next Monday and Thursday.
“Bord Bia remains fully committed to working with farmers and their representative organisations through the TAC process.
“The beef and sheep and the dairy TAC meetings have been rescheduled to dates in February. Bord Bia will continue to engage in a respectful and constructive manner to progress work on standards that support Quality Assurance (QA), farmers and the wider agri-food sector,” the spokesperson added.
The board of Bord Bia is split over Murrin’s future as its head. Both the president of the ICMSA Denis Drennan and president of the IFA Francie Gorman – the only farmer representatives on the board – didn’t express confidence in Murrin at a meeting on Thursday, while its other 11 members did.
Bord Bia and Murrin have been embroiled in controversy this week after it was revealed that Murrin’s company Dawn Farm Foods imports beef from Brazil.
Protest
IFA president Gorman said it had been planning to protest outside both meetings to announce it was withdrawing from the TAC process until the chair resigned or is removed from office.
He said the meetings’ postponements show Bord Bia cannot carry out its business without farmers.
“It is clear that Bord Bia cannot do its business without farmers. The current chair of Bord Bia, who imports Brazilian beef, has put himself ahead of the association and it’s doing untold damage.
“The Minister for Agriculture has to ask himself about his role in this debacle.
“Declaring full confidence in the chair while farmer confidence in Bord Bia is ebbing away was a ham-fisted intervention that failed to take into account the level of farmer anger about this issue,” Gorman stated.
“For the Minister to give credit to the Bord Bia chair for Ireland’s export performance while dismissing farmer anger as emotion is outrageous because it ignores the fact that farmers made it happen. It shows how out of touch he is,” he said.
The IFA president added that the meetings were to discuss revised QA standards that farmers will have to meet, yet Bord Bia’s chair is importing Brazilian beef.
“We are told that the customers of our beef need us the apply higher standards at farm level, yet the chairman has told us that these same customers are now insisting that they require some Brazilian beef as part of their contract,” he said.
Bord Bia’s QA standards are developed through the TAC.
The committee is made up of representatives from the agricultural industry, Bord Bia, farm organisations, Teagasc, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), the Department of Agriculture and other technical experts.
Read more
Minister Heydon made ‘serious mistake’ backing Bord Bia chair – ICSA
IFA and ICMSA seek resignation of Bord Bia chair
Larry Murrin has 'my full confidence' as Bord Bia chair – Minister Heydon
Two meetings of Bord Bia’s technical advisory committee (TAC) have been cancelled next week amid an ongoing controversy around the State body’s chair Larry Murrin.
News of the cancellation came within an hour of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) announcing it would not attend next week’s meetings owing to the Murrin controversy.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said it had been planning to also pull out of the meetings and protest outside.
A spokesperson for Bord Bia confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that the meetings would not go ahead as planned next Monday and Thursday.
“Bord Bia remains fully committed to working with farmers and their representative organisations through the TAC process.
“The beef and sheep and the dairy TAC meetings have been rescheduled to dates in February. Bord Bia will continue to engage in a respectful and constructive manner to progress work on standards that support Quality Assurance (QA), farmers and the wider agri-food sector,” the spokesperson added.
The board of Bord Bia is split over Murrin’s future as its head. Both the president of the ICMSA Denis Drennan and president of the IFA Francie Gorman – the only farmer representatives on the board – didn’t express confidence in Murrin at a meeting on Thursday, while its other 11 members did.
Bord Bia and Murrin have been embroiled in controversy this week after it was revealed that Murrin’s company Dawn Farm Foods imports beef from Brazil.
Protest
IFA president Gorman said it had been planning to protest outside both meetings to announce it was withdrawing from the TAC process until the chair resigned or is removed from office.
He said the meetings’ postponements show Bord Bia cannot carry out its business without farmers.
“It is clear that Bord Bia cannot do its business without farmers. The current chair of Bord Bia, who imports Brazilian beef, has put himself ahead of the association and it’s doing untold damage.
“The Minister for Agriculture has to ask himself about his role in this debacle.
“Declaring full confidence in the chair while farmer confidence in Bord Bia is ebbing away was a ham-fisted intervention that failed to take into account the level of farmer anger about this issue,” Gorman stated.
“For the Minister to give credit to the Bord Bia chair for Ireland’s export performance while dismissing farmer anger as emotion is outrageous because it ignores the fact that farmers made it happen. It shows how out of touch he is,” he said.
The IFA president added that the meetings were to discuss revised QA standards that farmers will have to meet, yet Bord Bia’s chair is importing Brazilian beef.
“We are told that the customers of our beef need us the apply higher standards at farm level, yet the chairman has told us that these same customers are now insisting that they require some Brazilian beef as part of their contract,” he said.
Bord Bia’s QA standards are developed through the TAC.
The committee is made up of representatives from the agricultural industry, Bord Bia, farm organisations, Teagasc, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), the Department of Agriculture and other technical experts.
Read more
Minister Heydon made ‘serious mistake’ backing Bord Bia chair – ICSA
IFA and ICMSA seek resignation of Bord Bia chair
Larry Murrin has 'my full confidence' as Bord Bia chair – Minister Heydon
SHARING OPTIONS