Bord Bia – the hole gets deeper!

Global demand for beef is rising year-on-year while beef supply tightens (1). In theory, this should mean higher prices for high-quality beef producers. In Ireland, beef prices are down almost 20% in a matter of months. The EU’s own Spring 2026 Agriculture Short-Term Outlook (2) says that demand for beef remains robust – the gap is just being filled by imports instead of EU produced beef.

Meat Industry Ireland were very clear in a recent Oireachtas hearing that the price rise in 2025 was due to processors having to compete for Irish cattle. Mysteriously and only months later, that competition began to disappear and now apparently doesn’t exist. The Irish beef processors cite falling global export demands, increased competition from cheaper imports and shifts to more affordable dairy beef as some of the reasons for the price collapse.

Bord Bia (3), our expert State food marketing body to which all livestock farmers must pay statutory funding says “The impact of inflationary pressures on consumers combined with historically high prices for beef, has had a significant impact on beef consumption level at retail and foodservice levels. Increased levels of imported non-European beef across our main markets and growing competition from competitively priced proteins have impacted negatively on the demand for beef.”

It’s very clear that a key factor is not just imports coming into Ireland but increased imports from other countries into our key markets – in particular, the increase in the volume of beef from New Zealand being sold in the UK. What none of these groups are discussing are the individual companies and people behind the decline in markets for Irish beef and their links to Bord Bia, who should be the State agency predicting markets and working to protect Irish food producers from exactly what is happening right now.

While declining beef prices are a result of a number of complex factors, it’s no secret that increased exports of beef from New Zealand into the UK are eating into traditionally Irish supply contracts there. Irish livestock farmers, through levies paid to Bord Bia, have contributed substantially towards building those UK and other markets and contracts year-on-year over decades. They have had no meaningful say or oversight over the activities or spend. The key question here is – should farmers have to pay (through Bord Bia or otherwise) to build markets, network connections and contracts for processors who can so easily choose to source beef from other countries to fill those contracts?

In 2016, Dawn Meats were already looking to expand into New Zealand. They were reported to be the failed underbidder (4) to Shanghai Maling’s $267 million investment in 50% of Silver Fern Farms – a New Zealand beef processor.

In 2023, Alliance Group New Zealand (5) gave an interview to the Irish Farmer’s Journal stating their intention to increase their share of the UK market with NZ grass-fed beef. While this did potentially pose a threat to the Irish market, they are reported to be some €85 million in debt and perhaps not in a position to expand without significant outside investment.

By 2025, news of a potential Dawn Meats and Alliance Group merger began to circulate. Niall Browne, CEO of Dawn Meats, finished his rotation on the board of Bord Bia in February 2025, having taken his seat in 2019. By September 2025 the deal was well underway as Tom Moran of Kerry Group was proposed as the independent Chair (6) of Alliance Group NZ which states it ‘faces collapse without Dawn Meats’ (7).

Tom Moran, Chairman of Kerry Group joined the board of Bord Bia in 2018. Previously Secretary General at the Department of Agriculture. He has also served as Chair of the Board Bia Dairy board and as recently as 2024 was the Vice Chair of Bord Bia’s secretive Origin Green Global Sustainability Council. Membership of this Council is not published publicly.

In December 2025, the Alliance Group deal finalised (8). Niall Browne said: “Dawn Meats already has a strong operations network in Ireland, the UK and in the EU. Having the ability to now grow in partnership with some of New Zealand’s leading farmers and create a year-round supply for our customers between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres is a fantastic opportunity and one our customers are already responding to.”

Mark Wynne, Chair of Alliance Group, stated: “This essential investment will strengthen our financial position, enhance our operational capability and enable us to capture more value in market for our farmers and the country.”

“The Board explored every option to secure Alliance’s future. The Dawn Meats proposal stood out as the best strategic and financial path forward, a view confirmed by independent adviser Northington Partners. By combining Alliance’s lamb expertise and global reach with Dawn Meats’ strength in beef and market access across Europe and the UK, we can unlock significant commercial and operational synergies.”

The same deal that allows Alliance Group NZ to ‘capture more value for farmers and the country of New Zealand’, means that Irish beef farmers will lose value in that same market and for the country of Ireland. It is clearly stated that the Alliance Board sought the very best deal possible and that ‘Dawn Meats strength in beef and market access across Europe and the UK’ were key factors in the decision to bring them on board. The fact remains that Dawn Meats did not acquire that strength and market access on their own. They were supported by a number of very generous grants from the taxpayer for capital investment and market diversifcation and empowered by a State marketing agency funded by Irish livestock farmers and taxpayers. The bills are ours but the success is their own?

None of this is to suggest any wrong-doing on the part of any party. Any business is entitled to pursue profits. Currently, the system allows them to guide the direction of Irish food markets from inside Bord Bia while they do it. That needs to change. The Bord Bia Act compels livestock farmers to pay to build markets, networks and contracts with no security that they will ultimately benefit from them. If Irish processors can easily choose to source goods from other countries to fulfil those contracts, there should be no question that Irish livestock farmers should be contributing anything to it.

EU law requires that throughout the European Union, goods cannot be sold or promoted on the basis of country of origin. In terms of marketing then, Bord Bia cannot show preference in their marketing for goods grown or produced in Ireland. However, that is not the same thing as goods from countries outside the EU availing of contracts procured as a result of Bord Bia marketing. Where is the line in the sand? Why have no protections against what is now happening been provided? All funds from which farmers benefit have strict terms and conditions applied with clawback of funds sought for any deviation.

But further than that, on Friday 22nd May 2026, the Irish Farmer’s Journal reported on ‘farming’s newest quango’ (9) and asked who is on the board? They state “the organisation is chaired by retired secretary general of the Department of Agriculture, Tom Moran’.

The project is called ‘Our Food Roots’ and seems to be a replacement for a previous Bord Bia initiative called ‘Project Connect’. The new formation for the project is a CLG called ‘Irish Agrifood Matters’. While this purports to be an individual organisation, there is significant overlap with Bord Bia and Bord Bia activities.

It operates out of the Bord Bia headquarters and has an interim board of directors featuring Kevin Cahill from ABP and Bord Bia board member, John Enright ICMSA, Karina Pierce UCD and board member of Bord Bia, Damien McDonald IFA, Emma Walls of the National Dairy Council, Jim O’Toole CEO of Bord Bia, Lisa Koep Tirlan and Conor Mulvihill Dairy Industry Ireland.

The benefits of acquiring a well-placed Dublin office and promotion by Bord Bia is a distinct advantage to any company. It’s not clear whether there is direct financial support from Bord Bia and to what extent the organisation is empowered to avail of services within the Bord Bia offices and these questions must be answered. The problem of the disconnect between Irish people and the farms, food production and land of Ireland are well understood and presumably what the previous Bord Bia initiative sought to address. What is not clear is in what way this new individual entity formation supports addressing the issue that working within Bord Bia didn’t?

The Bord Bia newsletter (10) states: “Our Food Roots (Formerly Our Food Connects) has continued to grow its work across Ireland’s agri-food sector, helping to reconnect people in Ireland with where their food comes from, how it is produced, and why that matters today.” They don’t explain why it is that Bord Bia choose to discontinue doing that work themselves.

The website www.ourfoodroots.ie states their purpose as “connecting people with the food, farmers and land of Ireland”. If you wanted to rebuild connections between Irish food production and Irish consumers, why would you choose a Chair that is currently actively engaged in replacing Irish beef in our traditional and critical export markets threatening the continuation of Irish beef production?

Who funds it and why? The Irish Farmer’s Journal reported that the National Dairy Council has approved direct funding of approximately 7% of NDC’s annual levy income and stated that they are ‘aware that a total of €1 million in farmer levy funding from the NDC has been pledged annually”. They also reported that the organisation is part-funding a new lecturer position in UCD – an organisation that already sits on the board of Bord Bia.

The Irish Farmer’s Journal has also reported on the funding of this new venture, set up in 2025. They say they understand that the organisation has only received half of the €5 million pledged to it. They report that Dawn Meats and ABP did not respond to queries from IFJ about funding they have provided. Tom Cronin is reported as saying “We were created to help bridge the growing disconnect between people and their understanding of where food comes from reconnecting the public with Irish food and farming, building trust through greater understanding. Our funding model is based on direct support from member organisations that share this aim.”

There is little evidence to support the idea that all of the funding members support this aim. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that when the big players gather together behind closed doors, it’s bad news for Irish farmers.

Critical to the survival of Irish farmers (beef farmers in particular) is to do away with these farmer-funded but largely farmer-excluded organisations that benefit from taxpayer funds and network connections with zero transparency or oversight. Going forward, all farmer-funded organisations should be expected to work to the benefit of the farmer who pays for them and operate in a completely transparent manner with those farmers in relation to projects, schemes and outcomes. It is clear that the farmers are not ultimately benefiting from the work of Bord Bia while the processors are thriving. There is no issue with a State body to promote food processors, it’s simply that they should have to fund it themselves.

Bord Bia – the hole gets deeper!

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