Bord Bia: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

It is the same briefing I got and members of Bord Bia got. The Members opposite could have sought it before they called for a man to resign. Maybe the facts would not have been helpful as they are trying to whip people up. They have form on this. Their leader Mary Lou McDonald called for the head of the Garda Commissioner the day after riots in Dublin. Their housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin called for a senior Department of Finance official to be sacked because he did not like his opinion. With Sinn Féin it is sack first and ask questions later. I believe tonight’s motion sends a clear message to the chair of every other State board in the country as to how Sinn Féin operates. At the centre of this issue is a contract between an Irish food company, which employs thousands of people here, and a major international client. It is a contract worth hundreds of millions to Irish agriculture and one that extends to over 40 markets way beyond just Ireland, the UK and Europe to include the Middle East and Asia as well. Let us not forget that the vast majority of food produced on this island, over 90% of farmers' beef, sheep meat and dairy, is exported. Our industry operates in a global trading environment and that means we have to be responsive to the customers' requirements. The reality is that major international customers require proof of contingency provisions for continuity of supply in the unlikely event of disruption to the supply chain in Ireland or across EU supplies.
The fact that we are talking about less than 1% of the overall contract demonstrates it is just that, proof of a channel for contingency of supply should a food outbreak break out like we had with pork dioxins in 2008 when every bit of Irish pork came off the shelves overnight.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04