Bord Bia: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Cathy Bennett (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

I welcome the farmers who have come to see the real Government tonight. They are very welcome to the Dáil Chamber.
Here we go again. Hot on the heels of the fake opposition to the Mercosur trade deal, the arrogance of the Government is palpable. The Government will hector and lecture Irish farmers about environmental standards while failing to meaningfully oppose European measures clearly designed to supplant their produce. Not content with that, the leader of the very organisation meant to champion Irish produce has been outed as a buyer of the same inferior products that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have enabled increased importation of. I can see why the Government retains confidence in Bord Bia's chairperson. By importing Brazilian beef, Mr. Murrin was simply aligning himself with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy.
Our farming families face inordinate pressures, rising input costs and the need to meet ever-rising environmental standards. Too often, they are then left to absorb the related costs within already meagre margins. They are constantly told that they need to do more to receive less in real terms. They are treated as if they should be celebrating so-called record funding that equates, in real terms, to cuts, as if they are fools who cannot account for inflation. That is the crux of the issue before the House. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, alongside the chairperson of Bord Bia, felt that they could take our farming families for fools, that they could tell them there is nothing to be angry about and that they would buy it, and that families would eat this beef. The Government thinks it is acceptable to do so.
Mr. Murrin has decried farmers' anger over this situation as emotional nonsense. With empathy non-existent, I would say that Mr. Murrin clearly lacks the capacity to chair any board, let alone one that cannot function without our farmers.
Sinn Féin's motion offers the Members of this House a choice. Do they hear the anger of our farming families? Can they understand it? Will they acknowledge it and respond to it or do they stand with Mr. Murrin and his uncaring charge of emotional nonsense against our farming families?

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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