Moeran happy to play the waiting game

THE Mountnugent farmer who took part in the sit-in protest at the headquarters of Bord Bia earlier this year says he welcomes the two-month delay of the independent review into the national food agency.

“The longer the review takes the longer Larry Murrin is not chairing a meeting at Bord Bia and that’s a good thing because that means he is only chairman by name during that time,” Richard Moeran told the ’Celt.

In recent weeks, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon conceded the review into governance at Bord Bia will miss its deadline by two months. The minister had originally said it would be concluded by April 30.

The need for a review arose after five farmers including Richard Moeran from Mountnugent and Patrick McCormick from Co Monaghan staged a 28-day sit-in protest at Bord Bia’s Dublin offices over Larry Murrin’s chairmanship of the agency which ended on March 2.

The protest called for the removal of Larry Murrin as chair of Bord Bia after it emerged his company, Dawn Farm Foods, used imported beef and poultry in its products.

Dawn Farm Foods have said the company sourced less than one per cent of its beef from Brazil last year.

The Celt caught up with Richard Moeran this week and asked him how he felt about the delay in conducting the review and releasing its findings. Mr Moeran said “it’s a good thing.”

“I don’t know the reasons for the delay except that we said from the get-go that the timeline the minister set for such a review was unrealistic,” Richard said.

“The review entails compiling the views of all board members, carrying out in-depth research into practices and governance within Bord Bia and then collating the information to compile it all in a comprehensive way.

“I think it’s great because in all that time, Larry Murrin is not chairing the board or any meetings,” Mr Moeran continued, “and so long as that remains the case, Larry Murrin is effectively removed from the chair and his effectiveness is reduced because he is simply a chair in name only.”

The sheep, beef, tillage and crops farmer from Mountnugent also said he thought the delay was a good thing because it may mean the review team are thoroughly examining Bord Bia’s governance.

“It’s good, it means they’re doing a lot of digging,” he said.

The IFA member said he has heard some criticism of the protestors and what they achieved after a month-long sit-in.

“I’ve heard that Larry Murrin is still the chair and we’ve achieved nothing but, I want it to be clear that so long as Larry Murrin is not sitting chairing meetings, where, let’s face it a lot of Bord Bia’s work is done, then he is chair in name only.”