Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. What price is paid to Northern Ireland farmers for a litre of milk?

Notwithstanding the presentation, I reconcile our guests' very obvious frustration with the concerns expressed by some of my constituents who are liquid milk producers. They believe that the significant investment in the Republic of hundreds of millions of euro in the development of new liquid milk product lines and the exploration of new export markets is not being matched north of the Border. Liquid milk producers in the Republic are concerned about the future. Two weeks ago, our groceries order report flagged a concern that there may come a time when liquid milk is not produced in this country due to downward pressure on prices. Do our guests wish to comment in this regard?

I accept their point that there should not be a distinction between North and South. The example was given of the distance between Donegal and Omagh only being 20 miles there and back. Is a part of the difficulty the uncertainty about whether the milk that returns to Donegal is the original Donegal milk? Is this the perspective of the National Dairy Council, NDC, which has been established for a long time?