Mayo farmers enraged at 'emotional nonsense' comment made by Bord Bia Chair

Mayo IFA County Chairman John Lynskey has said that comments by Bord Bia Chair Larry Murrin dismissing farmers and their families concerns about his importation of Brazilian beef as ‘emotional nonsense’ have enraged farmers.

Controversial Bord Bia Chairman Larry Murrin made the comments in an interview with the Irish Farmer's Journal where he called for dialogue to resolve issues between farmers and the semi-state agency after it was revealed that Dawn Meats, of which Mr Murrin is chief executive, used beef imported from Mercosur countries within its products.

“I was at the protest last week when the Journal went online and farmers who saw it were raging to see their concerns dismissed in this way,” Mr Lynskey said.

“These comments show the total contempt Mr Murrin has for farmers and their families. He has no understanding of the important part farmers play in Bord Bia’s Quality Assurance (QA) schemes. It’s quite clear that he is out of touch with the farmers who are producing the food,” he said.

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He added that Mr Murrin 'talks guff' about the need to lead, but ignores the leadership shown by various elected farmer officers down through the years who encouraged farmers to participate in QA schemes when they were far from popular.

“If Mr Murrin knows anything about leadership, he will know that putting yourself ahead of your organisation is the worst form of leadership,” Mr Lynskey said. 

“His whole interview is dripping with arrogance with Mr Murrin hyping himself up and refusing to give due credit to farmers for their efforts. The main emotion farmers are feeling over all of this is anger and the only nonsense is being spoken by the Chair of Bord Bia who is now a lame duck chair. He should go before he does any more damage,” he concluded.