The Bord Bia debacle rumbles on this week, with both sides entrenched in their positions and no end in sight. The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says it has the backing of its members to stay camped outside Bord Bia for as long as it takes.

IFA president Francie Gorman remains resolute that the protest will continue and the farmers won’t move from the front door of Bord Bia until its chairperson Larry Murrin resigns.

A number of IFA county AGMs which took place this week sent a strong mandate to the IFA leadership to keep going and do whatever it takes to remove Murrin.

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There has been communication between the two parties, with Larry Murrin offering to speak to the IFA national council on his reasoning for importing Brazilian beef.

This offer hasn’t been taken up. I don’t think any amount of explaining at this stage will do any good and, as they saying goes, when you’re explaining, you’re losing.

A number of senior figures at Bord Bia, including its CEO Jim O’Toole, were attending Gulfood 2026 in Dubai this week alongside a delegation of officials from the Department of Agriculture.

Talks on how things can be resolved are expected to ramp up once they return home.

Murrin appears to have the backing of the majority of his board members, the industry and the Government. He maintains he hasn’t done anything wrong and he doesn’t need to go anywhere.

If Murrin digs in and refuses to go, it becomes a big fight for the IFA in terms of its influence and power. In his interview with Agribusiness editor Lorcan Roche-Kelly, Murrin explains why he feels he has done nothing wrong.

Backing

The IFA has the backing of thousands of farmers, and it’s hard to see how those voices can continue to be ignored by the people at the top.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine Martin Heydon were remarkably quick out of the blocks last week to defend Murrin, with sources close to the Government saying that this could be quickly nipped in the bud with a strong sweeping aside of any concerns and move on.

Minister Heydon’s reference to farmers being emotional about the situation was particularly unfortunate and went down poorly in farming circles.

Opposition parties also continue to heap pressure on the Government. Cracks have started to appear, with a number of Fianna Fáil TDs coming out this week in support of the protest.

News of the chairman’s summoning to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture will also likely add further fuel to the fire.

We are now 10 days into the debacle and, if anything, it seems to be gaining momentum, with other farm organisations now lending their support to the IFA protest and all of them calling for Murrin’s head.

Regardless of what happens now, there has been some irreparable damage done to relationships with, farmer confidence in the Bord Bia chair low.

We need to be careful that we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater however. While farmers are venting valid frustrations about the chair of Bord Bia and his business dealings, the fact is that Bord Bia does a huge amount of good work promoting Irish food, and Irish farmers benefit from that.

This is an issue regarding the chair of the Irish meat marketing board importing Brazilian beef, it’s as simple as that.

Assertions

We’ve seen all sorts of assertions made on social media this week around what is happening, with some outlandish claims made about the bluetongue outbreak being linked to the Bord Bia crisis to take the heat off the issue.

In levelling these accusations, we need to be careful that we don’t create an image for consumers of an industry where anything can happen. Irish beef remains the best in the world, and it is important consumers know that and we don’t confuse the message.

Irish farmers do a huge amount of work complying with Bord Bia standards and inspections. What we don’t want is farmers refusing to comply with Bord Bia quality assurance audits and losing out on the 20c/kg in-spec bonus and putting their participation in schemes in jeopardy.

It’s a time for calm heads that will allow the right decisions to be made.