Cavan-Monaghan farmers on way to Bord Bia HQ now
Local farmers are joining IFA members in Bord Bia offices this morning
FARMERS from Cavan and Monaghan are making their way to the headquarters of Bord Bia in Dublin this morning to support five members who have been staging a sit-in protest at the Dublin offices since February 3.
A board meeting of Bord Bia is taking place today, at which a government proposal for an independent expert-led governance review into Bord Bia is set to be discussed.
It follows an IFA proposal to examine the board membership eligibility as well as its various quality-assurance schemes.
The IFA wants, the chair of Bord Bia, Larry Murrin to step aside for the duration of the review period.
Seamus McCarra is on the IFA’s Livestock Committee for Co Monaghan.
He contacted the ’Celt first thing this morning to say that he and many other farmers from the Anglo-Celt region are making their way to Bord Bia’s Pembroke Street offices this morning.
“As soon as I finish up with the farm this morning I’m going up to Dublin. We’re all going,” Mr McCarra said.
The group of five protestors will be ‘living’ inside the Bord Bia offices for exactly one month tomorrow, March 3 and they include Patrick McCormick from Monaghan and Richard Moeran from Mountnugent.
They are calling for the removal of Bord Bia chair, Larry Murrin, after it emerged his company, Dawn Farms, uses Brazilian beef and poultry in its meat products.
The Bord Bia website says the purpose of the national food agency is to “bring Ireland's outstanding food, drink and horticulture produce to the world, thus enabling the growth and sustainability of producers in Ireland.”
Dawn Farms said Brazilian beef made up less than 1 per cent of its overall supply last year.
On Saturday, around 1,500 people attended an IFA protest outside the offices of Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon. Some signage at his office was damaged by the large crowd and he has since made a formal complaint to gardaí.
large crowd and he has since made a formal complaint to gardaí.
Richard Moeran, is an organic beef, sheep and tillage farmer from Mountnugent and one of the main five protestors inside Bord Bia HQ.
In his most recent column for the Irish Independent newspaper’s farming section, Richard described the level of public support for the protestors as “heartening”.
“Farmers may not be as skilled at communication, but we are as vital to everything that happens in Bord Bia. And we feel like no one is listening to us,” he said.