Mr. Denis Murphy:

On the question of whether a premium should be paid, the system for the past 18 years has provided a premium over manufacturing milk prices. Last year, some of the major processors introduced a change to link the price for liquid milk to the actual manufacturing price base plus a winter premium. That premium is now something over 3 to 3 and a half cent per litre. We will again commission Teagasc to examine the cost of winter milk production arising from the disaster we have had in 2012-13 to see what costs have been incurred and to consider the levels of compensation for liquid milk production in the winter period. We need to look at that.