IFA members camped at Bord Bia’s headquarters – both inside and out– have stated that they have no plans on ending their protest as long as Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin stays on.
The IFA protest at Ballsbridge entered its 10th consecutive day on Wednesday, with the day previous having marked a significant escalation of the standoff.
A group of IFA members entered the building on Pembroke Street on Tuesday afternoon, which Bord Bia said they managed to do under “false pretences” and with the action reflecting “poorly on the IFA”.
The move to enter the lobby of the building has been since slammed by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, who said that “occupying and blocking a place of work is never acceptable” while calling for a de-escalation of the IFA’s protest.
However, speaking outside the building on Wednesday, the IFA’s grain chair John ‘Boiler’ Murphy suggested that the association will not back down from its stated aim of seeing the end to Murrin’s chairmanship.
‘Dug in’
“We are trying to escalate this protest and it is going to escalate every day from here on,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“We can’t understand why the minister hasn’t come with more meaningful negotiation as to how we can solve this problem.
“There is only negotiation [issue] we have and that is the removal of Larry Murrin and a new chair appointed.
IFA members protesting inside Bord Bia's head office on Tuesday. / Justin Lynch
“Farmers are dug in here. They are not moving. There is 14 inside the door, there is the guts of 14 outside at the minute and it is going to keep going.”
Another of those outside the doors of Bord Bia’s offices in the early hours of Wednesday was Co Cork farmer and participant in the IFA’s 2025 Ready to Lead programme Pat Collins.
“The IFA escalated their protest here last night where members entered the lobby of Bord Bia and remained there overnight and will remain there until such time as the chair, Larry Murrin, steps down,” Collins commented.
TDs await Murrin
The ramping up of tensions between the IFA and Bord Bia comes as Murrin is due to appear before the Oireachtas agriculture committee on Thursday afternoon.
TDs from Fianna Fáil’s backbenches and right across the opposition have called for Murrin to resign or be removed over the controversy of his company Dawn Farm Foods’ importation of Brazilian beef into Ireland last year.
IFA members camped at Bord Bia’s headquarters – both inside and out– have stated that they have no plans on ending their protest as long as Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin stays on.
The IFA protest at Ballsbridge entered its 10th consecutive day on Wednesday, with the day previous having marked a significant escalation of the standoff.
A group of IFA members entered the building on Pembroke Street on Tuesday afternoon, which Bord Bia said they managed to do under “false pretences” and with the action reflecting “poorly on the IFA”.
The move to enter the lobby of the building has been since slammed by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, who said that “occupying and blocking a place of work is never acceptable” while calling for a de-escalation of the IFA’s protest.
However, speaking outside the building on Wednesday, the IFA’s grain chair John ‘Boiler’ Murphy suggested that the association will not back down from its stated aim of seeing the end to Murrin’s chairmanship.
‘Dug in’
“We are trying to escalate this protest and it is going to escalate every day from here on,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“We can’t understand why the minister hasn’t come with more meaningful negotiation as to how we can solve this problem.
“There is only negotiation [issue] we have and that is the removal of Larry Murrin and a new chair appointed.
IFA members protesting inside Bord Bia's head office on Tuesday. / Justin Lynch
“Farmers are dug in here. They are not moving. There is 14 inside the door, there is the guts of 14 outside at the minute and it is going to keep going.”
Another of those outside the doors of Bord Bia’s offices in the early hours of Wednesday was Co Cork farmer and participant in the IFA’s 2025 Ready to Lead programme Pat Collins.
“The IFA escalated their protest here last night where members entered the lobby of Bord Bia and remained there overnight and will remain there until such time as the chair, Larry Murrin, steps down,” Collins commented.
TDs await Murrin
The ramping up of tensions between the IFA and Bord Bia comes as Murrin is due to appear before the Oireachtas agriculture committee on Thursday afternoon.
TDs from Fianna Fáil’s backbenches and right across the opposition have called for Murrin to resign or be removed over the controversy of his company Dawn Farm Foods’ importation of Brazilian beef into Ireland last year.
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