Five people are occupying the offices of Bord Bia at the moment. They do not want to be there; they want this situation to be resolved. In fairness, the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, in recent days put forward a proposal to try to resolve it. The IFA has offered a suggestion to the effect that the chairperson of Bord Bia step aside while a full review of the situation takes place. Will the Government please, in the interests of everybody involved and, in particular, the industry, which has been brought into disrepute because of what is going on, accept that and move the situation forward?

This week and last week, thousands of farmers attended meetings around the country. I attended two of those meetings. Farmers are angry, frustrated and annoyed and cannot believe that the Government cannot see the contradiction of the chair of Bord Bia importing Brazilian beef while being the main advocate when it comes to the sale of Irish products. Farmers are not stupid people. They hear Government telling them that they do not understand the nature of global supply chains. When the Government tells them that, what they hear is "You guys are stupid." They are not stupid. They are intelligent, sensible people who want a solution. Will the Government please bring this matter to a head and sort it out? It cannot go on. If it does, it is going to escalate because these farmers are not going to back down.

Farmers are far from stupid; they are the backbone of the indigenous Irish economy. They also know that this Government has their back. It had their back on nitrates and on Mercosur and will have it when it comes to the CAP and bluetongue. We know that they know we are with them and will be supporting them. We have had a point of disagreement with regard to the chair of a semi-State board. The Government has a job to do, and this Oireachtas has had a vote in respect of that. We have had committee hearings and there have been board meetings. The Minister for agriculture, Deputy Heydon, is engaging intensively on these matters. I thank him for all the work he is doing.

The board of Bord Bia held a scheduled meeting on Wednesday, 18 February. Following that meeting, the IFA submitted a document that consisted of seven strands and that requested that the board of Bord Bia commit to initiating a review process into the various issues that have arisen in recent weeks. Many of the seven strands relate to the quality assurance schemes. These can be dealt with by the farmer forum that Bord Bia is establishing on foot of the commitments given at the 18 February meeting. In addition, the Minister is examining the option to commission an expert-led governance review which would cover the other strands of the IFA proposal. There has been direct contact with senior members of the IFA regarding its proposals in the context of trying to find a potential compromise. The word "compromise" is important here, because compromise does not mean somebody getting their own way. I have spoken to the president of the IFA in recent days, as has the Minister. Everyone wants a resolution to this.

The board of Bord Bia will meet again on 2 March. We all agree that this protracted dispute is not in the best interest of the agrifood sector. Engagement is taking place and efforts are being made to resolve the matter.