A review of the governance of Bord Bia launched after protests over the importation of Brazilian beef by its chairman Larry Murrin’s company has found he is viewed as providing “clear leadership” at the State agency.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon commissioned the independent board effectiveness review in March as part of a deal to end a sit-in protest by Irish Farmers’ Association members at Bord Bia’s headquarters.
The IFA had called on Murrin to resign as Bord Bia chairman over the importation of Brazilian beef by Murrin’s company, Dawn Farms.
IFA president Francie Gorman is a board member of Bord Bia as is Denis Drennan, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), which had also called on Murrin to resign.
On Friday evening Gorman said he was seeking an urgent meeting with Heydon to discuss matters arising from the review report and issues not dealt with in the report.
Importation of Brazilian beef is contentious against the backdrop of farmers’ opposition to the Mercosur trade deal between the European Union and some South American countries, including Brazil. Farmers here are concerned they have to meet more stringent quality standards than those in Brazil.
Earlier this year Murrin defended his company’s importation of Brazilian beef at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, saying Dawn Farms was a “global food business” that “must always ensure continuous food supply to our customers, no matter the circumstance”. The company imported less than 1 per cent of its beef from Brazil in 2025, the committee was told.
He also rejected claims raised at the committee that Dawn Farms’s limited use of Brazilian beef represented a conflict of interest with his role as chairman of Bord Bia, the State agency tasked with promoting Irish food.
The Bord Bia review was carried out by independent consultancy firm Governance Ireland.
The “overall assessment” in the review report published on Friday is that “the board of Bord Bia is very capable, engaged and committed, with a strong governance foundation with solid structures and processes”.
The report says “survey results and interview feedback indicate that the chair [Murrin] is viewed as providing clear leadership, maintaining appropriate focus on governance and strategy”.
It adds: “The vast majority of board members were generally very positive about the chair’s performance.”
Among 22 recommendations are that Bord Bia develops conflict-of-interest training and guidance in line with best practice as well as that it “Draw up a more detailed policy and process for dealing with actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest”.
Heydon welcomed the completion of the report and said he would engage with Murrin and Bord Bia’s board and “requesting that they develop a timely and effective action plan to address the very practical recommendations in this report, and that they regularly update me on progress”.
He added: “I am confident that the implementation of the recommendations from this independent review will help to further strengthen the board of Bord Bia in fulfilling its important mandate.”
Gorman was briefed on the review by Department of Agriculture officials on Friday.
He said afterwards: “There are number of very important recommendations in this review, which are a clear acknowledgment that significant change is needed.
“However, the report did not deal with a number of wider issues as they were deemed to be outside the scope of the governance review.”
Gorman added: “Only board members and senior Bord Bia senior staff were interviewed for the review. It only looked at structures and certain practices – it did not consider the issues that caused this dispute.”
Drennan said the ICMSA noted the contents of the report and would consider them at the organisation’s next board meeting.