Bord Bia should be pulled before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer questions on its non-compliant spending, according to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture chair Aindrias Moynihan TD.

While a decrease on 2024 levels, Bord Bia still recorded €1.2m in non-compliant spending last year.

Deputy Moynihan said he was “surprised” to learn of the non-compliant spending by the State agency, which related to procurement matters.

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“I think there’s very reasonable questions there,” he said.

“I think it surprised a lot of people. You need to be able to trust and to know that things [are being done correctly].”

The agriculture committee chair told the Irish Farmers Journal that he first expected Bord Bia officials to face the PAC on the issue, given the financial nature of the matter.

He said if further answers were needed beyond investigation by the PAC, he would look to bring the State agency before the agriculture committee.

“I think it would be at the PAC most likely that that would be raised first,” he said.

“There might be scope then afterwards for [the agriculture committee].”

Deputy Moynihan said that before full judgment was made on the cause of the non-compliant spend, questions needed to be asked and answered, whether by the PAC or Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.

A spokesperson for Bord Bia confirmed that the State agency had not been invited to appear before the PAC.