Larry Murrin, chief executive officer of Dawn Farm Foods and chair of Bord Bia, has called for dialogue to resolve the stand-off which has developed at the State body.

“There’s an opportunity to lead here in the context of what’s right, and dialogue is the right thing, with a view to making Ireland stronger,” he told the Irish Farmers Journalin an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

“Getting Larry Murrin’s head doesn’t make Ireland Inc stronger and it certainly doesn’t make Bord Bia stronger,” he said.

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“Fundamentally, it’s a massively delicate issue which has been wildly inflated beyond its true meaning. If all the stakeholders sat down and talked, I think there could be benefit from that.”

Murrin said that he has already offered to go and talk with the president of the IFA and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), and with the national council of the IFA, to put forward the position “properly, logically, and common-sensibly”.

“All we’re doing by aiming a campaign at me, at Bord Bia, is damaging Ireland’s reputation. That’s all we’re doing.

“Larry Murrin is a long time doing what he does – passionately promoting Irish food and agriculture,” Murrin said.

When asked if he has considered his position as chair, Murrin said “of course I have”, but confirmed that it is his intention to continue as chair.

“The Minister for Agriculture has been clear. I’m clear on what the Government’s position is.”

Murrin said that he has served as a member of the prepared consumer foods subsidiary board of Bord Bia since 1999.

He said when the position of chair arose, he applied for it and, following an interview process, was appointed as chair of Bord Bia, which he described as “an organisation I have been deeply and passionately involved with since its inception”.

He added that being appointed as chair is “the honour of my life”.

“I think I understand what the position of chair of Bord Bia involves.

“This Brazil emotional nonsense that’s going on, it’s not a new fact,” he said.

“It is not in the job specifications that you have to have 100% Irish inputs in your business.

“I’m a passionate advocate of Irish food and agriculture. I’m from farming stock. I have huge empathy and understanding of the Irish farming community. I always have had, and I always will have, regardless of what happens,” he said.

Brazilian beef

The catalyst for the questions about Murrin’s position as chair of Bord Bia have been driven by farmer reaction to the news that Dawn Farm Foods imports beef from Brazil. Murrin said that in 2025 the imports accounted for less than 1% of Dawn Farm Foods’ beef supply.

In 2024 those imports were a “tiny fraction of 1%” and were zero in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

He said that Irish beef makes up a “significant majority” of its beef supply, with the balance of needs met by sources in the UK and EU.

“If Dawn Farms was a country, it would be in the top 15 buyer of Irish beef,” Murrin added.

When asked if Dawn Farm Foods imports beef from any other country outside of the EU or UK, Murrin said that the company “currently does not import from any other country”.

He emphasised that the decision to use the “tiny proportion” of Brazilian beef was driven by customer needs and demands, rather than by any decision directly taken by Dawn Farms.

On future beef imports from Brazil, he said: “That will ultimately be decided by the customer set, taking all geopolitical issues, agri-food issues, all the things that feed into their thinking, including their marketing about what they want their brands to represent. Those will be the deciding factors.

“Fundamentally, supply chain security is of paramount importance to the vast majority of our customers.”

He described the issues around both business customer demand and changing consumer habits as “a very complex topic” and one that “can’t be resolved on social media”.

He said that his company is audited by customers up to 50 times a year and that every customer knows exactly what is going into their product, and where those product ingredients are sourced from.

“We have customers is Europe who demand that the meats used in their products is from their own country.”

He is clearly very proud of the job Dawn Farm Foods has done in servicing those customers.

“We’re a company who have lived through foot-and-mouth in 2001, the Irish global pork recall in 2008, and to be honest countless other things. We never missed a beat with a customer during all of that, they know that and that’s why they trust us.

“We form deep partnerships with customers,” he said.

Murrin said that the issue around imports from Brazil “blew up” two weeks ago.

“A picture on social media flashed around, and everything that has gone with that.”

He said that he has received “thousands” of messages of support from Irish businesses.

“I’m not emboldened by that, and neither am I diminished by any vitriol that anybody on social media chooses to feed out.”

Robustness of Bord Bia QA scheme

The issues raised about imports of Brazilian beef have led to some questions on the robustness of the Bord Bia Quality Assurance scheme. When contacted, Bord Bia gave the following statement:

“Bord Bia works with all Irish food and drink companies to promote Ireland’s food story globally. The sector is very varied, ranging from small businesses supplying Ireland and the UK to global multinationals exporting to multiple overseas markets.

“We can group [those exports] into just two types: primary and non-primary exports.

“Primary exports can be certified by Bord Bia Quality Assurance schemes, and include produce that has minimal or no processing such as mushrooms, beef mince, butter, rashers, and chicken.

“Non-primary exports tend to have higher levels of manufacturing and include products such as coffee, confectionary, bakery, drinks, and cooked meats. They may be significant purchasers of primary QA produce, but they may also rely on imported ingredients to complete the product. These products do not operate under the certified QA programme and subsequently cannot carry the Bord Bia quality mark.”

“Products made by Dawn Farm Foods do not carry the Bord Bia Quality Mark,” Bord Bia said.