Bord Bia
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

It is a partnership between the farmers who produce the top-quality food to meet the very high standards set down and the audit system Bord Bia has put in place which allows us to give information to clients at the end and which, in turn, allows our farmers to reach higher value markets. Internationally, Irish beef is not competing on commodity markets with Brazilian beef because we go for higher levels of sustainability. It is due to the very data our farmers are inputting through the audit system that Bord Bia is able to work with Irish food companies to market produce internationally and to attain higher values for Irish farmers. The system is completely integrated. My Department plays an integral role in making sure that we continue to gain access to new markets along the way.
The mask has slipped. The Senator let the cat out of the bag in her supplementary question when she alluded to the fact that it is not about the 1%. It is all about optics. She does not care about the fact that she has sullied a man's name in the Chamber.

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