Paula Hynes: Why there will be no winner in the Bord Bia standoff
'As farmers, we are continuously frustrated at not being listened to by the EU, yet here we are on our own doorstep, not willing to listen before judging.'
While the farm has been hectic, I would have had to be living on an uninhabited island with no internet to have missed the Bord Bia debacle with some farmers this week. At the centre of the debate is the Bord Bia chairman, Larry Murrin. He is CEO of Dawn Farms, which is Europe’s leading business-to-business specialist supplier of cooked protein ingredients, supplying meats and plant-based proteins to some of the world’s leading food brands. The company exports to 50 countries and has facilities in Ireland, Germany, and the UK.
Mr Murrin co-founded Dawn Farms for the Queally family over 40 years ago and has grown the company into a major global player, with a turnover of €748m in 2024. It employs more than 1,000 people, and the company is also a founding member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green, a globally recognised sustainability programme for the food industry. Mr Murrin has had a long-standing relationship with Bord Bia since its inception; he previously served on its Consumer Foods Board, and was appointed chairman of Bord Bia in 2024. He has waived his chairman’s fee and expenses since.
Controversy arose recently when it came to light that Dawn Farms purchased Brazilian beef in 2025 as part of a contingency plan to satisfy a contract it has with Subway (Subway has 37,000 outlets globally). The quantity of Brazilian beef is said to be less than 1% of the total beef Dawn Farms purchased in 2025, with the majority sourced from Ireland, the UK, and EU countries. The company is said to be one of the world’s leading purchasers of Irish beef.
Mr Murrin explained the situation surrounding the Brazilian beef to the board of Bord Bia, which showed a vote of confidence in the chairman, bar the leaders of the two farm organisations. He has since agreed to appear before the Oireachtas committee on agriculture and food in the coming week. The IFA has been protesting outside Bord Bia headquarters for over a week, calling for Mr Murrin’s resignation, and has at times been joined by other farm organisations.
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have full confidence in the Bord Bia chairman, as has the Minister for Agriculture, who has been criticised for describing farmers’ reactions to the controversy as emotional. In many ways, however, he is right, as emotions have been running high surrounding Brazilian beef due to the potential EU-Mercosur trade deal. Opposition political parties have also been calling for the chairman’s resignation and have become the farmers’ best friend of late, but these are the same political parties that have never really been strong on agricultural policy.
There have been many wild accusations circulating on social media surrounding the use of Brazilian beef, which are not one bit helpful to the situation. Of course, the optics look bad at first glance, but I, for one, would rather hear the detail in full before passing judgement. As farmers, we are continuously frustrated at not being listened to by the EU, yet here we are on our own doorstep, not willing to listen before judging.
Ireland is the sixth-largest exporter of beef, with exports hitting a record €3.4bn in 2025, while food and drink exports totalled €19bn. We as a country have imported beef for many years. In 2022, we imported 54,000 tonnes of beef, yet we export 500,000 tonnes.
We also import grain from Brazil. In 2024, we imported $17m (€14.4m) worth of grain from
Brazil, mostly in the form of corn, and in the same year, we imported approximately 750,000 tonnes of grain from Mercosur countries. I have always been opposed to the Mercosur trade deal with the EU; however, there is already a high-tariff agreement in place under which Mercosur countries, including Brazil, export 200,000 tonnes of beef to the EU annually.
The optics of the situation look bad from a farmer’s point of view, but optics look bad from both sides. Farmers going into battle with the CEO of a company that is a major purchaser of Irish beef will also raise eyebrows among buyers of our produce.
There will be no winners in this standoff, least of all Irish food exports, but detailed facts are crucial rather than simply reacting to headlines.
For me, the chairperson of Bord Bia must have a proven track record in the food industry, global contacts, a strong record in growing revenue, be highly competent in closing deals with global brands, and understand how consumer trends continually change. If we get rid of the one we currently have, who will even be willing to replace him?
February is upon us and St Brigid gave us two fine days over the weekend, which allowed the cows to continue grazing after what had been a horrendous week of rain. We also had a flood of calves over the last week, with calving really ramping up a gear.
It is basically beef all the way, as all the calves being born are Charolais, and thankfully, it has been running smoothly. Before I know it, we will have 50% of the herd calved, so hopefully the weather will improve further so we can maximise grass intakes with the cows.
Becky returned home this weekend from Australia after two long flights via Dubai, and she was straight back to work, with the extra pair of hands being most welcome.
She didn’t sleep on the journey home, which is probably a good thing from the perspective that she needed to get straight back into an Irish sleeping pattern. Our kitchen is now adorned with prize banners and sashes from International Dairy Week (IDW). I still pinch myself when I think of how she has dominated the showmanship at IDW for the last three years, but Irish people have continually succeeded on the world stage.
We as a nation are welcomed wherever we go and respected for the work ethic we bring with us, and applauded for the success we achieve. We are a little country that packs a big punch.
When I think back to Becky’s first trip to Australia when she was 16, she succeeded that year and, since then, has grown and matured so much. She continues to bring her A game to the show ring, and that A game just gets better and better.
