Bord Bia sit-in cost taxpayers €220,000
Ken Foxe
A farmers’ protest and sit-in at the headquarters of Bord Bia cost the taxpayer an estimated €220,000.
At one stage, the food promotion agency was spending more than €30,000 per week managing the fallout from the round-the-clock demonstration.
The protest saw members of the Irish Farmers’ Association carry out a rolling 24-hour protest before staging an “illegal sit-in” at Bord Bia’s offices in Dublin 4.
Records released under FOI show spending on additional security, legal fees, external meeting room hire, and media and advertising expenses.
Bord Bia said it did not normally have security personnel on site but was forced to bring in private firms for safety reasons.
During the protest, staff were asked to work from home while events and meetings with clients were cancelled, postponed, or moved to alternative venues.
Copies of invoices document hefty bills, including one for €61,500 paid to Integrity Security on 6 March.
A further €16,700 was paid to the company on 10 March while there was a separate cost estimate of €56,000 for the Bidvest Group.
Other costs included €1,250 in fees and expenses so that the board of Bord Bia could meet at an alternative location.
The food promotion agency paid around €2,600 for external meeting room hire and over €9,000 in legal fees.
There was also nearly €35,000 in costs for advertising and media lined to the protest, according to a log of expenditure.
In an information note, Bord Bia said not all invoices had yet been received relating to the costs of the protests.
The agency said: “However, it is estimated that the total costs incurred in relation to managing the protest and continuing the operations of Bord Bia will amount to around €220,000 including VAT, once all final accounts have been settled.”
Bord Bia said spending on security proved significant because of the “material risk” to staff safety and disruption to its operations.
The information note added: “The situation escalated over a short period and required immediate intervention to secure the building, restrict access, and provide continuous monitoring in order to discharge Bord Bia’s statutory health and safety obligations.
“It can be noted that the number of security personnel required on site varied at different times, over the course of the protests. Bord Bia does not ordinarily have security personnel on site at its offices.”
