The IFA-Bord Bia saga never really went away, did it? While the IFA occupation of Bord Bia’s headquarters ended in March, the IFA maintained its position that Larry Murrin’s chairmanship of Bord Bia was untenable. That was unaffected by the entirely predictable outcome of the review, which had broken the month-long impasse between the country’s food marketing board and the country’s largest farming organisation. Commissioned by Minister Martin Heydon, it found that Larry Murrin had conducted the functions of his role appropriately.
The problem was, that was never the core issue. While the IFA had expressed dissatisfaction with how the entire controversy had been handled within the boardroom, the central question was whether it was appropriate for a man who was CEO of a company that used Brazilian beef to chair our national food marketing agency. Particularly when Bord Bia is also essentially the agency that oversees food production standards at both farm and processing level. The former is conducted through the sector-specific Quality Assurance schemes, the latter through Origin Green.
So the undercurrent of the saga rumbled on through the summer, undoubtedly affecting relations between Minister Heydon and the IFA.
The revelation that Dawn Farm Foods was using Brazilian beef emerged last February, in the wake of the Irish Farmers Journal/IFA investigation into production standards, and specifically the control of antibiotic and other medicine use in Brazil. It was the combination of the two events that led to the intensity of the IFA campaign that followed.
Now, this week, the EU has banned all Brazilian beef for at least two years. That ban has come directly as a result of the investigation Adam Woods, Tomas Bourke and Philip Doyle carried out last year.
It isn’t the first time this has happened. Back in 2007, shortly after I joined this paper, Justin McCarthy, the then livestock editor of the Irish Farmers Journal travelled to Brazil with John Bryan and Kevin Kinsella, the IFA’s livestock chair and livestock director. What they uncovered led to a ban on Brazilian beef. It is to the European Union’s shame that a farming publication and a farm organisation should be left to do the work of the EU’s regulatory authorities, but there you go.
Inevitably, this ban has renewed calls for Larry Murrin to step aside or be removed from his position as Bord Bia chair. But that campaign was gaining absolutely no traction, neither Larry Murrin nor Martin Heydon were feeling any pressure. Until last Thursday week.
Plot twist
What no one could have predicted was the plot twist of the Irish Times wading in. I don’t think Siobhán McSweeney or Claudia Winkleman have done anything more dramatic in the various iterations of The Traitors franchise than emerged from the pages of Ireland’s most urbane paper last week.
On Thursday 24 September, Irish Times columnist Corrina Hardgrave conducted her weekly restaurant review on SOLE Seafood and Grill. The headline of “I’m in shock – €35 for chicken supreme using non-free-range Dutch chicken” was a head turner. The second paragraph noted that the restaurant was part of the EHL group, “co-owned by seasoned operator Padraic O'Kane and Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin”. Okay, it was now apparent that there would be wider implications from the review’s findings. I don’t know if it was Larry Murrin’s involvement or SOLE’s tagline of “A taste of Ireland in the heart of Dublin” that meant provenance was such a focus of the review, but the results were significant.
The review found that chicken was being sourced from the Netherlands and Poland, the sea bass was from Spain, Greece or Turkey, and the smoked salmon from Scotland. Extraordinarily, the tiger prawns being used in used in the seafood chowder were from Bangladesh and block-frozen. As Corinna remarked “not a good start”, considering SOLE claims it’s “food philosophy is one honouring seafood sustainability and local Irish producers”.
The review goes on to also highlight the many Irish food producers featured on the menu, including the beef and much of the fresh fish catch. However, the conclusion reached is damning – “a restaurant that positions itself as a place where seafood sustainability and local Irish produce are at the forefront merits more in-depth scrutiny”. That sentence multiplies in significance when you consider its co-owner is the chair of the Bord Bia.
Now, it may well be that Larry Murrin was unaware of the provenance of the food in his restaurant. He's not the front man; he seems to be the silent partner in the EHL food group, which also includes both the Round Room and Fire restaurants in the Mansion House. Ironically, the last time I was in the Mansion House was for the IFA's pre-budget lobbying of TDs and senators.
But there is no doubt that the Irish Times review of SOLE has opened up a second front in the IFA’s campaign against Larry Murrin. Not only was Dawn Farm Foods using Brazilian beef, which once again has been shown not to meet the food standards required by the EU, but a flagship restaurant had been portrayed by the Irish Times as falling short of it’s self-image.
Larry Murrin now has only six months left in his term of office. Martin Heydon has the option of reappointing him, but that has always seemed unlikely. Assuming he is not being reappointed, the problem of Larry Murrin solves itself in a few months' time. Some people are asking who would take on the task of replacing him as chair of Bord Bia, considering the hardship he has personally endured. Remember, Larry Murrin, Dawn Farm foods, and SOLE restaurant broke no rules, the issues were of contradictions between his public role and his private business interests.
It’s been said to me a number of times that no-one else wanted the job when Larry Murrin accepted it.
Look to Blas
Who would want it after the way he's been treated? I think that perhaps the place to look might be where I am this weekend – in Dingle. Not An Daingean itself, although you will be pushed to find a better example of a town that exhibits all that is best about Irish food than this remote, yet world-famous, fishing village. I mean specifically among the people involved in the Blas na hÉireann food awards. There are thousands of people here whose lives are largely devoted to food production. Many of them are artisan food producers operating at a tiny scale, some have grown to commercially significant size. But all are obsessed with producing food of the highest standard from local produce.
And they come from every corner of the country. I am here because a friend, Gráinne Kenneally Quirke, was nominated in various categories for her Aggies Raspberry Jam and her Aggies Elderflower Cordial. Last year, her Gráinne’s Granola won a bronze award. Yesterday, her raspberry jam won a silver award. I know how hard Gráinne has worked from dawn to midnight perfecting her products. I know her commitment and her passion for the food she is producing. And I see it in everyone else who is here in Dingle. Other Wexford producers like O’Neills Bacon and Killowen Yoghurt are made by people I went to school with, who have products that are sold in large retailers all over the country. But like Elderberry farm, I remember both of them starting in farmers' markets.
And it is farmers' markets where a vital and hugely important connection is being forged. Because we have the three elements of the food chain all interacting, farmer, food processor, and consumer. All too often, there is a gap between farmers and consumers, but at farmers' markets they deal directly with each other, side by side with artisan food companies offering a bewildering variety of produce derived from locally-grown crops and locally-raised animals.
Bord Bia is prominent in Dingle this weekend, and I know it is one of many agencies working hard to assist these companies, whether fledgling or long-established, to be the best possible version of themselves. It must be tearing ts hair out that while every food writer in the country is in Dingle, a poultry producer protest outside SOLE restaurant is getting all the news headlines.
I hope the next chair of Bord Bia is someone with the passion for local food that is universally being displayed here in Dingle. I think there is a need for the chair to be someone that accentuates and strengthens the links between farmers, the food industry and consumers. It might be time for it to be someone from the artisan food community.
Cartoon
This week’s cartoon in our paper unwittingly predicted Friday’s action by farmers. For clarity, the script was decided on Monday, so it was only informed by the initial reaction to the restaurant review.
Incidentally, if you enjoy our cartoons and are in Galway City or Inisheer over the next few days, our wonderful cartoonist Jim Cogan, is exhibiting at the Galway Cartoon Festival. He’s showing a selection of his wonderful sheep cartoons from over the years in our pages. I would heartily recommend them to you.
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