Larry Murrin & His Supporters are Taking Farmers for Fools

IFA Livestock Chair Declan Hanrahan said Larry Murrin has completely undermined his own explanation for importing Brazilian beef in his media interviews.

His admission that his company started importing Brazilian beef in 2024 and significantly increased the volumes in 2025 coincides with the rise in European and Irish cattle prices. This is nothing more than an attempt to undermine prices Irish beef farmers get, and to increase his own profits.

“Mr. Murrin expressly stated in his interview in the Irish Farmers Journal that he didn’t import any Brazilian beef in 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023. He said he brought a little in in 2024 and more in 2025,” he said.

Declan Hanrahan said his latest revelations make a complete mockery out of the excuses he and his supporters in Government circles, including the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Agriculture have been spinning.

“Farmers are not fools. We can see this for what it really is. Nobody believes customers of his company suddenly started demanding Brazilian beef for supply chain guarantees just at the time Irish and European farmers started to get a fair price for our product.”

Larry Murrin, in his position as Chair of Bord Bia, is constantly lecturing farmers about higher standards. Yet he is using this to promote his company while increasing his profits by importing cheap, untraceable, substandard Brazilian beef.

“The IFA/IFJ investigation showed that Brazil has no standards and the recent food recall due to hormones being found in Brazilian beef confirms that. Yet Larry Murrin is happy to bring it in,” he said. 

“In any event, the QA scheme Bord Bia devises and oversees has standards that are well above the minimum standard the EU sets for imported beef. 57,000 Irish farmers participate in these schemes in good faith. Bord Bia is the police force for this scheme yet the man at the top is undermining it,” he said. 

Declan Hanrahan said that one astonishing aspect of the whole affair is that the Govt is attributing the value of our agri food exports to Mr. Murrin and Bord Bia rather than farmers.

“Their Quality Assurance Mark has value because of the product it is affixed to. This product is produced by farmers. Nobody can eat a logo,” he said. 

Bord Bia has never bought or sold a kilo of beef, never calved a cow, lambed a ewe or invested in finishing cattle. They have now started to believe their own publicity that they are the reason our product is valued the world over. They play their part, but it is the farmers who produce the raw material that deserve the credit.  

Declan Hanrahan said this charade has gone on long enough. The hard work of farmers in producing to standards recognised across the world is being damaged.

This must stop. Larry Murrin must be removed if the organisation is ever to have the trust and confidence of farmers again.

Declan Hanrahan said there are only two income sources for Bord Bia – the Government and farmers.  The Bord Bia levy that farmers pay is to support the work of promoting Irish food. Farmers must believe that the person at the top is fully committed to the cause, not taking an each-way bet on Brazilian beef. 

“Larry Murrin must be removed as Chair if he is not willing to do the honourable thing, even at this stage, and step down,” he said.