Relevant Matter
Matters involving public funds
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 May. 2026 to 31 Aug. 2026
Specific Details
Bord Bia Governance Review
Intended results
To seek an urgent meeting with the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to discuss the Bord Bia Governance Review on the main findings of the report carried out by Governance Ireland.
To highlight that there are number of very important recommendations in this review, which are a clear acknowledgment that significant change is needed. However, the report did not deal with a number of wider issues as they were deemed to be outside the scope of the governance review. This is acknowledged in the review itself.
To emphasise that only Board members and Bord Bia senior staff were interviewed for the review. It only looked at structures and certain practices - it did not consider the issues that caused this dispute.
To highlight that there are a number of matters arising from the report and others that are not dealt with in the report that IFA want to discuss directly with the Minister and IFA have sought an urgent meeting with him.
To stress that farmer confidence in Bord Bia cannot be restored under the current Chair.
To highlight the frustration and anger of Irish farmers that the review was not in line with the agreed terms of reference as it turned out to be only a ‘Board Effectiveness Review'. It did not deal with the issues that caused and escalated this dispute. There are important recommendations in the review, but it did not fulfil what was in the original Terms of Reference.
To highlight that, after a meeting with the Minister last week, he said that he wants the 22 recommendations in the review to be implemented which is important. However, he stated that he will not take any further action on the issues which caused this dispute.
To emphasise that Bord Bia and the processing sector have been pushing for higher standards under their Quality Assurance Schemes. However, they have now lost credibility with farmers on standards.
To stress that farmers are unwilling to accept any additional asks as part of Bord Bia QA schemes and IFA will be using our representation at all levels in Bord Bia to convey this message on behalf of our members. The whole QA process needs to be simplified, not complicated further.
That, for years, Bord Bia has used the image of Irish farmers to promote Origin Green. They use the tagline ‘powered by partnership'. That partnership is now broken. There was a strong view from the IFA elected National Council members on the need for a full review of Origin Green as a matter of urgency.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Francie Gorman IFA President, Damian McDonald IFA Director General
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (2-5)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Barry Cassidy
Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Martin Heydon
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Sinead McPhillips
Secretary General (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Maria Dunne
Assistant Secretary General (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)