We are now almost two weeks into the Bord Bia protest, with neither side showing any signs of budging. In fact, if anything, both sides have become more entrenched in their positions in recent days, with no sign of any dropping of the guard.

There have been calls for dialogue, but given the vitriol and anger that exists on both sides, it’s hard to see any coming together for talks any time soon.

A number of farmers spent the night in Bord Bia headquarters on Tuesday, with the IFA leadership resilient in their stance that they will stay there for as long as they need to in order to get the Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin removed.

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All eyes now turn to the Joint Committee on Agriculture meeting, which takes place this week. It is probably one of the most anticipated meetings of this committee in recent years.

Howwever, the committee should not be used to grandstand questions for TD’s TikTok accounts and should instead be used to get answers to well-researched questions through scrutiny and getting full and detailed answers.

A bigger question that everyone is now asking is where is this all going to end? Minister Martin Heydon has doubled down on his support for Larry Murrin, and the IFA has doubled down on its calls for him to resign.

The IFA has used up a lot of political capital on the back of their farmer members urging them to keep going.

Huge damage has been done to the relationships between the Department of Agriculture, Bord Bia, the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and the Irish Farmers Association.

Critical

Those relationships are critical to meet some of the many challenges that Irish agriculture will face in the future long after this issue is put to bed.

One of the biggest issues has been the breakdown in the farmer relationship with Bord Bia in recent days, with years of working together gone by the wayside as each try to argue that their stance is the right one.

Shouting at each other from the sidelines won’t solve anything and dialogue has to happen for this issue to be sorted. Leaders sometimes have to take tough decisions and tough decisions lie ahead on all sides of this debacle.