Bord Bia has serious questions to answer over the €1.2m in non-compliant spending the State agency made last year, Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Deputy Martin Kenny has said.
“It’s important that all State bodies using public funds are transparent in how they use them.
“There are serious questions to be answered by Bord Bia in all of this,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“I think they’d have to come before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture to explain these non-compliances,” he added.
“This is particularly annoying to see, given everything that happened earlier in the year,” he said.
Bord Bia’s financial statements for 2025, which were signed by chair Larry Murrin, said Bord Bia had identified €1.2m of expenditure which was “incurred without the operation of a competitive tendering procedure in accordance with procurement guidelines”.
The statement gave no breakdown of where the non-complaint spending occurred.
This was a 50% reduction on the non-compliant spending it recorded in 2024, which stood at €2.6m.
Bord Bia said this year-on-year reduction reflected "improved adherence to procurement policies following the strengthening of controls during 2025".
Review update
Deputy Kenny also called for an update from Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon on the 22 recommendations made in review into Bord Bia’s board governance, which was published in June.
The review found that Bord Bia’s board is “very capable, engaged and committed, with a strong governance foundation with solid structures and processes”.
It also found that the State agency did not hit the target level at which high-performing boards should be when it comes to certain areas around conflicts of interest.
The review cost the Department of Agriculture €45,100, excluding VAT, to complete.
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