Bord Bia’s board convened for the first time in just under a month on Wednesday, with the meeting still in progress as the Irish Farmers Journal was going to print.

“The board of Bord Bia met today. Resolution is still being sought, and constructive dialogue will continue,” a spokesperson for the agency told the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday afternoon.

The last meeting of Bord Bia’s governance body ended in a souring of relations between the IFA and the agency over controversy surrounding its chair Larry Murrin.

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The IFA’s president Francie Gorman had sought the removal of Murrin from his role at this January meeting, and his call had been backed by the fellow board member ICMSA president Denis Drennan, but no vote of the board was taken by Jim Woulfe, who was acting in the capacity of interim chair.

It sparked the beginning of the ongoing protest staged by the association at Bord Bia’s head offices in Ballsbridge just two days after the board met, and which saw a group of IFA members enter the lobby area of the building just over two weeks ago.

Five protesters remain inside the building, saying that they do not intend to leave until Murrin is no longer Bord Bia’s chair.

Bord Bia has confirmed that it does not intend to pursue legal action against the association for the demonstration.

The protest ongoing at Bord Bia’s offices was on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting after a stakeholder meeting convened by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon failed to convince the IFA to end its stalemate with Bord Bia.

While the board was preparing to meet for its first showdown, a request submitted by the five remaining protesters inside Bord Bia’s lobby sought the granting of access to a nun wishing to deliver ashes to the protesters. Bord Bia granted the request and the nun entered the building.