Bord Bia dismantling ‘inexplicable’ and ‘absurd’

THE proposed dismantling of Bord Bia – the Irish Food Board – was described yesterday as inexplicable and counter-productive.

As rural fury grew over cuts to farm and other schemes, such as REPS, there was also hostility to the McCarthy Report proposals relating to Bord Bia, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and Teagasc.

The report calls for the transfer of Bord Bia and BIM functions to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the consolidation of their enterprise support and sector marketing functions into Enterprise Ireland. It has also urged huge cutbacks at Teagasc, which provides integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry, and rural communities.