The IFA president has vowed that the farm organisation will continue to protest at Bord Bia headquarters for “as long as it takes” to remove Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin from his position.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal after an IFA meeting in Claremorris, Co Mayo, on Thursday night which attracted over 700 farmers, Francie Gorman said that it has always been IFA’s position to stay protesting until the chair is removed.
“To be clear, we wouldn’t be in this position if we had got proper dialogue over the last month and I think that’s the thing that really annoys me the most, even from Government, from the Minister for Agriculture.
“There hasn’t been a meaningful attempt to try and sort this out except that the chairman has to stay from their point of view and no other outcome is acceptable. That’s not good enough, we need dialogue with no pre-conditions,” he said.
Earlier in the night, Gorman commended the five IFA members who remain inside the Bord Bia lobby as part of the IFA’s protest. All five addressed the meeting via video link, to rapturous applause.
IFA Claremorris meeting.
"Our issues are that he brings in beef, that he brings in chicken that he’s not quality assured to the processor standard.
"If in the morning, I applied for the position of chair of Bord Bia and I went in for an interview and I said ‘I bring in Brazilian beef, I bring in Brazilian chicken, I’m not quality assured and I don’t care about governance’. Do you think I would get the job? I would not.
“That’s the issue here. This confidence is not going to be restored,” he told farmers.
We need dialogue with no pre-conditions
He said that the IFA “went as far as saying maybe the chairman could step sideways” at the Bord Bia board meeting on Wednesday.
“Or step back, or step wherever he wants, but it’s a step back from looking for his head today, that was refused. That’s not good enough. We have tried to put forward arguments that would resolve this but they’re being ignored,” he said.
Gorman said he has faith in the members around the board table and that it was a meaningful meeting on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, every dispute is resolved by dialogue.
"Yesterday was the best day we had in how we might go about resolving this but we’re not any further than where we were yesterday, that’s the problem,” he said.
For more, see www.farmersjournal.ie and next week’s Irish Farmers Journal print edition.
The IFA president has vowed that the farm organisation will continue to protest at Bord Bia headquarters for “as long as it takes” to remove Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin from his position.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal after an IFA meeting in Claremorris, Co Mayo, on Thursday night which attracted over 700 farmers, Francie Gorman said that it has always been IFA’s position to stay protesting until the chair is removed.
“To be clear, we wouldn’t be in this position if we had got proper dialogue over the last month and I think that’s the thing that really annoys me the most, even from Government, from the Minister for Agriculture.
“There hasn’t been a meaningful attempt to try and sort this out except that the chairman has to stay from their point of view and no other outcome is acceptable. That’s not good enough, we need dialogue with no pre-conditions,” he said.
Earlier in the night, Gorman commended the five IFA members who remain inside the Bord Bia lobby as part of the IFA’s protest. All five addressed the meeting via video link, to rapturous applause.
IFA Claremorris meeting.
"Our issues are that he brings in beef, that he brings in chicken that he’s not quality assured to the processor standard.
"If in the morning, I applied for the position of chair of Bord Bia and I went in for an interview and I said ‘I bring in Brazilian beef, I bring in Brazilian chicken, I’m not quality assured and I don’t care about governance’. Do you think I would get the job? I would not.
“That’s the issue here. This confidence is not going to be restored,” he told farmers.
We need dialogue with no pre-conditions
He said that the IFA “went as far as saying maybe the chairman could step sideways” at the Bord Bia board meeting on Wednesday.
“Or step back, or step wherever he wants, but it’s a step back from looking for his head today, that was refused. That’s not good enough. We have tried to put forward arguments that would resolve this but they’re being ignored,” he said.
Gorman said he has faith in the members around the board table and that it was a meaningful meeting on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, every dispute is resolved by dialogue.
"Yesterday was the best day we had in how we might go about resolving this but we’re not any further than where we were yesterday, that’s the problem,” he said.
For more, see www.farmersjournal.ie and next week’s Irish Farmers Journal print edition.
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