Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Martin Haydon said the Bord Bia management review was not expected to be completed until next month.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has staged a renewed protest at Bord Bia’s headquarters in Dublin over several weeks to demand the resignation or removal of Larry Morin as Chairman of the Irish Food Board.
This came after confirming that Dawn Farm Foods, which Morin owns, will source 1% of its beef supply from Brazil in 2025.
Larry Morin told the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food that he had “never been conflicted in carrying out my role as chair of Bord Bia, which is to lead the board and ensure its effectiveness”.
Bord Bia
The protest, which also saw five IFA members occupy the Bord Bia offices, was ended on 2 March as an agreement was reached on Independent review At the suggestion of Minister Haydon.
The review by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) was expected to be completed by 30 April 2026.
However, Minister Haydon stressed that this time frame is now unlikely to be met.
He said Agriland An independent consultancy called Governance Ireland “was awarded a tender and contract to carry out the review”.
“They set out to do this work, as stipulated. The preference was to have this work done by the end of April, but it’s really important that it gets done right as well.”
“I think it may extend beyond the end of April into May, but that’s not an issue once it’s done right, and it won’t take much longer than that.
Minister Haydon added: “This is not about sticking to an arbitrary deadline. It is about making sure that the process is done correctly, that it is clearly defined, and that is what the organization has now set out to work on.”
