After nine days of protesting outside Bord Bia headquarters in Ballsbridge, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) have entered inside to "escalate" the protest further.

The IFA has called for the removal of Larry Murrin as chair of Bord Bia after it was discovered that his company Dawn Farm Foods imported beef from Brazil.

The IFA has been operating a roster of county branches to keep the protest ongoing since last Monday 26 January.

On Monday, Monaghan, Kilkenny and Clare branches got the second week of protest outside Bord Bia HQ underway.

IFA president Francie Gorman said the move reflects the deep frustration and anger over the inaction by Bord Bia on this matter.

“It’s over two weeks since I first raised this matter, and over a week since we began our protest outside the Bord Bia office in Dublin.

Yet the chair of Bord Bia and the Government have failed to recognise how this issue is undermining farmer confidence in Bord Bia. Our position has been quite clear on this: the position of the chair is untenable given that he imports Brazilian beef,” he said.

Francie Gorman said the prolonged nature of this issue over the chair’s importation of Brazilian beef, and an unconfirmed amount of poultry, is having a significant impact on the standing of Bord Bia.

“It will take some time to rebuild confidence in Bord Bia among farmers. For every day that this goes on, it will take longer. Even at this stage, those who can retrieve the situation should step up and resolve the matter,” he said.

The IFA president said the Minister for Agriculture had been premature in his backing of Larry Murrin.

“The resolve of our members is very strong. Rarely have I seen such a depth of feeling on an issue. Expecting farmers to reach higher and higher standards, while the chair ignores them with Brazilian beef, will only engender mistrust. The chair has to go,” he concluded.