Pressure mounts as two councils call for Bord Bia chair to stand down

Larry Murrin defended his position, citing 'global market realities' and compliance with EU regulations.

Bord Bia chair Larry Murrin walks past protesting farmers outside Leinster House ahead of his appearance before the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee. Picture: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ie

Pressure is mounting on Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin after two county councils backed motions calling for his removal, despite his insistence that there is no conflict of interest in his company’s importation of Brazilian beef.

Mr Murrin, who is also the chief executive of Dawn Farms, was accompanied in the Dáil by Bord Bia officials, including chief executive Jim O’Toole.

Members of the joint committee on agriculture and food questioned the potential conflict between Mr Murrin’s role as CEO of Dawn Farms and his position as chair of Bord Bia, emphasising the importance of traceability and quality assurance. 

Mr Murrin defended his position, citing “global market realities” and compliance with EU regulations.

Addressing committee members on Thursday, Mr Murrin said the issue was not about self-sufficiency but about commercial resilience.

“I have enormous respect for Irish farmers. I am the son of a farmer from Co Meath. Farming shaped my values, my work ethic and my understanding of markets,” he said.

However, when asked whether he would consider standing down, he was unequivocal. “I don’t do ultimatums unless they come from my wife,” he said.

Concerns in the beef sector

The meeting focused on concerns around confidence in the Irish beef sector.

At several points, Mr Murrin was accused of “running down the clock”, and was at one point told some answers were “hazy”.

Carlow-Kilkenny TD Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere TD said: “On the one side, you have this private enterprise, and on the other side, you are chair of an organisation, Bord Bia, which has responsibility for promoting and marketing Irish beef on the international stage. 

Can you not see how farmers could be really, really frustrated and upset and hurt over that? 

"And then there’s an inferior product coming in from a different country, and the Chair of Bord Bia is, in essence, on both sides?”

During the session, Mr Murrin revealed that Dawn Farms had previously owned a facility in Brazil. However, he said the company sold its Brazilian operations in 2012 and has no current commercial involvement there.

Mr Murrin outlined Dawn Farms’ economic footprint, employing 1,400 people and sourcing raw materials in Ireland. He said the company is the largest meat ingredient business in Europe and that its economic impact in Ireland exceeds €1bn. He added that less than 1% of Dawn Farms’ beef in 2025 was sourced from Brazil.

He said it was “important to clarify” that Dawn Farms

does not slaughter cattle or produce primary beef products.

“In fact, we are a major customer of Irish beef producers,” he said.

Farmers burn their Bord Bia paperwork outside the Dáil ahead of Larry Murrin going before the agricultural committee. Picture: Zoe Geary

Mr Murrin added that Ireland’s export-led food and drink sector relies on imported ingredients as part of complex global supply chains.

“The bedrock of these commercial relationships is commercial confidentiality. In the event of a food crisis, Dawn Farms must be agile and able to activate a supply of beef or any other raw material from different sources, and that activation must be proven and real and practised. 

"Having it on paper is not worth the paper it’s written on,” he said, explaining that contingency arrangements must be tested.

However, TDs questioned whether such contingency sourcing needed to involve Brazil, where agricultural standards differ significantly from those in Ireland.

Responding, Mr Murrin said: “Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world today and our global customers stipulate that this country can access those raw materials if it needs to.

“Somewhere in the southern hemisphere will always be on our contingency list. The question is accessibility, and we have to be able to demonstrate that to our global customers,” he added.

Mr Murrin also rejected allegations circulating on social media that Dawn Farms had sold products containing non-Irish beef under the Bord Bia Quality Mark.

Conflict of interest denied

He vehemently denied any conflict of interest.

“A farming organisation alleged that I was fundamentally conflicted in undertaking my duties as chair of Bord Bia because the company of which I am CEO, Dawn Farms, sourced beef from Brazil. 

"The charge is that it is incompatible for me to chair Bord Bia while being involved with Dawn Farms. To be clear, I have never been conflicted in undertaking my role as chair of Bord Bia,” he said.

“I am completely reconciled. There is no conflict, incompatibility whatsoever.” However, farmers protesting outside the Dáil and at Bord Bia’s offices said they remained unconvinced.

Speaking to Irish Examiner reporter Zoe Geary, outside the Dail, Seamus O’Reilly a farmer from Co Cavan, said farmers may begin to pull out of the Bord Bia audits that are conducted on Irish farms.

“Everyone is thinking about not doing their audits that come around every 18 months,” he said.

John Maloney, a farmer from Co Limerick, also protesting outside the Dáil, voiced the worries farmers had of Murrin’s company, Dawn Farms, putting beef from Brazil through the Irish system, saying it “could damage the reputation of our beef as well”.

“We’re concerned about the way the government is standing behind Larry Murrin. We feel the government should listen to farmers. They feel [farmers] that the reputation of Bord Bia has been undermined, and we feel this chairman has to step down.”

Speaking on what he would like to see done to begin to rectify farmers’ trust in Bord Bia, My Maloney said: “We feel there needs to be more farmer representation on the board.”

Since the meeting, two local authorities — Carlow County Council and Wexford County Council — have backed motions calling for the removal of the Bord Bia chair.

Carlow IFA held a meeting on Sunday night at which it was agreed that a motion would be brought to the monthly meeting of Carlow County Council. A similar motion was brought forward by councillors in Wexford.

Depth of feeling

IFA president Francie Gorman welcomed the support from both local authorities, saying it demonstrated the depth of feeling on the issue.

“I want to thank the councillors for giving some of their time to discuss this issue today and for backing our position. There is no question that people can see there is a problem with the current situation in Bord Bia. We can only rebuild farmer confidence if there is a new chair at the helm,” he said.

“Our members have worked extremely hard to give people an understanding of the core issue. We will maintain this campaign until we get a result that allows Bord Bia to resume its normal business.” 

Carlow IFA chair Michael Purcell said there had been a good discussion in the council chamber and that councillors ultimately voted in favour of the chair’s removal.

Wexford IFA chair Tom Doyle said it was a close vote, but the majority view was that a change was needed to move on from the current situation.

Mr Gorman has also called on the two main political parties and Independent TDs to allow a free vote on the future of the Bord Bia chair.

Government TDs up and down the country have told us that they believe Larry Murrin should not be the chair of Bord Bia.

However, they are being whipped by their parties to vote for something they do not believe in,” he said.

“This is very short-term thinking by the Government. I fully understand why we have a whip system for Budgets or legislation, but applying the party whip on an issue like this is wrong.

“I want to be very clear that the vote tonight will mean nothing if the whip is applied. On a matter like this, TDs should be allowed to exercise their own judgment and reflect the views of the electorate in their constituencies,” he said.

“If the minister thinks that whipping party members to win this vote is going to solve anything, he is very wrong. Bord Bia needs the support of farmers and rebuilding trust will not start until there is a new chair.”

The joint committee on agriculture and food is also due to hear from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, IFA and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association on the matter this week.

• CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article inadvertently made an incorrect reference to Mr Murrin as chief executive of Dawn Meats, instead of Dawn Farms. We are happy to correct the record in this respect.