COUNCILLORS have voted to support An Bord Bia’s governance review on its chief Larry Murrin, with two calling for his suspension.

At last week’s meeting of the local authority, two motions relating to Mr Murrin were heard in chamber.

Cllr Peter O’Donoghue (Aon) called on the Minister for Agriculture to suspend Larry Murrin with immediate effect, while Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) called for Mr Murrin to stand down until a full inquiry is completed.

‘While the farmers being inspected by Bord Bia have to go through so much red tape and checklists we find the chairman importing beef from Brazil into his farm, a country with little or no regulation,’ said Cllr O’Donoghue.

He described it as a ‘scandal’ and said there is a clear conflict of interest rendering his position as chair as completely untenable.

Cllr Gearoid Murphy (FF) sought to amend the motion. He noted that the chair has already stepped aside pending the results of an independent governance review.

‘It’s important that we don’t pre-empt the results of this investigation,’ said Cllr Murphy.

Cllr Collins (Ind Ire) seconded Cllr O’Donoghue’s motion and said they have lost faith in the chair and he stood by his call for Mr Murrin’s resignation.

Cllr Alan Coleman (Ind) said while it appears Mr Murrin hasn’t broken any rules his tenure as chair of Bord Bia has been become mired in controversy at the moment and he called on him to step aside voluntarily.

‘He has really become a distraction and we should call on him to step aside voluntarily in the wider interest of Irish agriculture. There comes a time when someone’s position becomes untenable and his timing has not been good as this is a very important time for agriculture with the review of CAP,’ said Cllr Coleman.

Councillors voted by 47 to 10 to approve the amendment to the motion, but Cllr O’Donoghue stated his motion had been ‘turned upside down’ in the chamber.

‘It’s scandalous and there was no vote on my motion,’ said Cllr O’Donoghue.