The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has set out 10 questions for Larry Murrin and/or Bord Bia to answer arising from Murrin’s appearance at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture (JOC) last Thursday, which it says was high on style, but low on substance.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA president Francie Gorman said: “Larry Murrin’s appearance before the JOC on Thursday raised some important questions and they are questions that we in the IFA want answers to.

"Some of his comments raise serious questions around governance in Bord Bia and practices in his own company Dawn Farm Foods. We won't be resting until we get answers to these important questions.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The 10 questions the IFA has sent to Larry Murrin and Bord Bia

  • 1. The code of governance for State bodies says that all board members, including the chair, must disclose any conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest to the board. At the JOC, Larry Murrin said that he considered this himself and he decided he wasn’t conflicted. Can he say why he didn’t disclose the matters to the board in line with the code?
  • 2. At the JOC, he confirmed that his company Dawn Farm Foods (DFF) was also importing significant quantities of poultry. Did he disclose this to the board at the emergency board meeting on 22 January? When did he inform the Minister of this?
  • 3. Why did the chair not absent himself from the emergency board meeting, as set out in the code of governance for State bodies?
  • 4. On the DFF website, it says that his company’s products 'have farm-to-fork traceability’. At the JOC, he accepted that cattle in Brazil were only tagged after 10 months. He justified this by saying that DFF ‘QA people’ were happy with it. It would certainly not meet Bord Bia’s QA standard for traceability. How can he stand over this ‘farm-to-fork’ commitment?
  • 5. The DFF website clearly implied that DFF was gold standard under Origin Green. At the JOC, he accepted that his company was no longer meeting this standard. The website was changed the day after the hearing. Is it acceptable that the chair of Bord Bia, which awards these standards, would not have [its] website fully accurate on such matters?
  • 6. At the JOC, he stated that DFF was part of Origin Green. How much Bord Bia Quality Assured product does his company purchase? Based on his comments at the JOC, it would appear to be less than 50%. Can he clarify this?
  • 7. Could Bord Bia clarify what percentage of Bord Bia Quality Assured produce is a company required to use to be part of Origin Green?
  • 8. At the JOC, he refused to give the exact tonnage of Brazilian beef he imported in 2025. He said it was commercially sensitive. It was Mr Murrin himself [who] put the 1% figure in the public domain to try [to] dismiss farmer concerns. Yet, when he asked to give details on the Dáil record to support this claim, he refused to do so. Will he put the exact quantities in the public domain along with where he sourced the rest of his beef in 2025?
  • 9. On poultry, rather than giving an exact amount or a percentage, as he did for beef, he used the percentage of the overall imports of poultry into Ireland. Based on this, we estimate it could be as much as 70m breasts. Will he confirm the exact amount of poultry he brought in from Brazil and other countries outside the EU in 2025?
  • 10. Larry Murrin stated in his written opening statement to the JOC hearing that Bord Bia operates ‘voluntary’ Quality Assurance schemes. This shows an alarming lack of understanding of the reality for farmers on the ground. Dairy, pig and poultry farmers will not have their produce processed if they are not quality assured. Beef farmers face penalties of up to 30c/kg; suckler farmers risk losing €150 per cow under the SCEP scheme. Will the chair write to the JOC to clarify this point?