‘I’m not a champion for Brazil’, Bord Bia chairman tells committee

The chairman of Bord Bia has questioned how allegations of “double standards” could be applied to his company sourcing Brazilian beef when farmers import feed for their animals from South America.

Larry Murrin said allegations around him having a conflict of interest are “false” and “driven” by social media, as he referenced calls for his resignation at the Agriculture committee.

Mr Murrin has rejected repeated demands to step down from his role at the state agency, which is charged with promoting and enforcing standards on Irish food, including beef.

The dispute arose out of revelations that Mr Murrin’s company Dawn Farm Foods had sourced “less than 1%” of its beef from Brazil last year for contingency planning in a contract.

On Thursday, he said his company was a major customer of Irish beef producers but said security of supply agreements with major international customers require provisions for food crises, disease outbreaks, and supply issues.

He also questioned how an allegation of “double standards” could be applied to his company but not to Irish farmers who import animal feed from South America, adding he did not have a problem with that personally.

Mr Murrin told the Agriculture Committee that “somewhere in the southern hemisphere” would always be on the contingency list for his company’s customers.

He said: “I’m not a champion for Brazil and I want to make that perfectly clear today, but Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world today and our global customers look at commodity markets globally, and I have to be able to demonstrate as part of our supply-chain security arrangements that this country can access those raw materials if it needs to.”

He insisted his quality assurance team have “stringent requirements” and work with the “most reputable companies in Brazil when they need to”.

He said his company carries out testing on beef from Brazil for hormones, adding that teams have conducted audits in third countries that the company may import from.

Mr Murrin said it is “completely incorrect” to suggest that Dawn Farms promotes products containing non-Irish beef under the Bord Bia quality mark, adding: “Those claims are false and have caused damage.”

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) have called for his resignation over claims of a conflict of interest as they say Bord Bia places standards on Irish beef that they do not believe are met by Brazilian farms.

However, Bord Bia’s chief executive, Jim O’Toole, said it was in the “best interests” of Irish farmers for Mr Murrin to remain as chairman, and Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon has also expressed confidence in Mr Murrin.

He said his position on the board had been presented to him as an “ultimatum” by the farming organisations, adding: “I don’t do ultimatums – unless they come from my wife.”

Mr Heydon has said that Mr Murrin had been willing to give a detailed and confidential briefing about the arrangement to the farmers’ groups.

The issue is particularly sensitive as the European Commission seeks to progress the Mercosur trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – with Irish farmers concerned their beef exports to Europe would be at risk because of cheaper Brazilian beef entering the market.

At the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee on Thursday, Mr Murrin said his role as chairman of Bord Bia was a non-executive position and he did not manage day-to-day operations or quality assurance programmes.

He said there had been a misrepresentation of conflict of interests in his duties.

Mr Murrin said he has never been conflicted in leading the board and ensuring its effectiveness.

“I have spent my entire working life advocating on behalf of Irish food, drink and agriculture in global markets in the best interests of Ireland,” he said.

“I have spent every week since assuming the chair of Bord Bia doing likewise – that will not change.”

Outside of the less than 1% supply from Brazil, Mr Murrin said Dawn Farm Foods sources “well over 50%” of its beef from Ireland and the remainder from the UK and the EU.

He also told the committee that the company sources some poultry from Brazil but no pig meat.

He said 7-10% of the white poultry meat imports into Ireland.

He told the committee that he had entered into a joint venture with a Brazilian company in 2005/2006 but exited the business in 2012, adding that he had no investments in South America currently.

The dispute has seen the IFA stage a days-long protest outside Bord Bia’s headquarters in Dublin, with some demonstrators even occupying the lobby of the building for a time.

A protest also took place outside the Oireachtas last week, with several tractors parking along the roadside outside a main entrance to Leinster House.

Mr Murrin said he had “enormous respect for farmers” but added: “I do not support the behaviour of IFA members occupying Bord Bia reception in recent days.”

Elsewhere on Thursday, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said he was “surprised” by the stance taken by the IFA.

He told Newstalk’s The Claire Byrne Show that the Government “should not be intimidated” by interest groups into changing a decision, adding that he believed the IFA was “being led a bit by those on the more militant side of the Irish farming lobbying groups”.

He called for “mature people to recognise” that “you can’t have a situation where people are forced out of public jobs through pressure”.

Sinn Fein senator Joanne Collins asked Mr Murrin if he ever made a donation to a political party but committee chairman and Fianna Fail TD Aindrias Moynihan said the Bord Bia chairman did not have to answer the question as it was beyond the remit of the hearing.

After the committee, Sinn Fein said Mr Murrin had provided no answers and reiterated its call for him to resign.

IFA president Francie Gorman issued a similar call, stating the hearing raised further questions.