Opinion: Larry Murrin-IFA; now a war on two fronts

The IFA-Bord Bia saga never really went away, did it? While the "IFA Five's" occupation of Bord Bia’s headquarters ended in March, the IFA maintained its position that Larry Murrin’s chairmanship of Bord Bia was untenable. That view was unaffected by the entirely predictable outcome of the review which had broken the month-long impasse between the country’s food marketing board and the country’s largest farming organisation. Commissioned by Minister Martin Heydon, it found that Larry Murrin had conducted the functions of his role appropriately. The problem was, that was never the core issue. While the IFA had expressed dissatisfaction with how the entire controversy had been handled within the boardroom, the central question was whether it was appropriate for a man who was CEO of a company that used Brazilian beef to chair our national food marketing agency. Particularly when Bord Bia is also essentially the agency that oversees food production standards at both farm and ...