Editorial: ‘the Bord Bia protest will be recorded as political – it’s much more'

There was a sigh of relief heard in calving sheds and in Government buildings, on farms and on the footpaths of Pembroke Road on Monday – finally, there was a breakthrough in one of biggest farming protests in living memory. That sigh of relief was loudest inside the lobby of the Bord Bia offices where the five protesters – Patrick McCormick, Teresa Roche, Christine Friel, Richard Moeran and Tom Byrne were camped.

It was hard to predict the outcome of this dispute but if you’re a betting man or woman, a review of the board seemed the most logical outcome, such was the digging in of heels on both sides of the table between Bord Bia and the IFA. Larry Murrin wasn’t stepping down, the IFA wasn’t backing down – this was as close to compromise as one could anticipate.

Without this, who knows how long that protest would have continued? This became abundantly clear to me last Thursday when I stood at the entrance doors of Bord Bia. I was speaking to Patrick, Teresa, Christine, Richard and Tom on speakerphone and while I could see them, our communication was through the glass of what had become the famous lobby.

Our call was to prepare for the recording of our podcast Inside with the Bord Bia Five, but what I could see and hear through the glass was abundantly clear – this group had sheer grit and determination. I thought after three weeks with no fresh air and sleeping on couches that they would have entered some kind of prisoner mentality. I anticipated the mood to be low, tensions to be high. The reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. They were united, focused, and determined.

You can hear that passion for yourself on the podcast (available wherever you get your podcasts) and on page 8, Jacqueline Hogge writes in detail about what a day in the life of the Bord Bia Five looked like.

The history books will record this protest – about Larry Murrin and the Bord Bia Five – as a political story. But in my opinion, it is also one of real human emotion, determination and passion.

I anticipated the mood to be low, tensions to be high. The reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. They were united, focused, and determined.

There has been an absolute resolve by Larry Murrin that he will not step down, confident that he had the unwavering support of Martin Heydon, the Minister for Agriculture. There is the passion of the IFA protesters – not just those inside the Bord Bia building – but those standing outside in the cold since the end of January. Francie Gorman rallying the crowds in Athy, Claremorris and Cavan and Alice Doyle stating that “we are at war, we are soldiers”.

And beyond those people sitting in boardrooms, protesting in lobbies and on the streets and those travelling to farmer meetings, there were the families and support teams behind it all. Farms still had to function, calves and lambs were born, dinners had to be cooked, school drops had to be done and businesses still had to function.

We, more than any other media organisation in the country, know that farmers are passionate about their vocation. We know there is pride in the land, in the quality of our Irish food, in the efforts that are put into ensuring best practice to achieve the best produce. That passion and pride reached a whole new level in the last few weeks.

If the history books don’t write about that, they should.