Mr. Donal Kelleher:

The facts of the matter are that in the winter just passed our costs increased by 4.5 cent per litre for feed alone. The total cost increase, as Mr. Arthur mentioned, is up to 7 cent per litre. This was flagged by farm organisations and the National Milk Agency as far back as last October. A mere 1.25 cent increase has been granted to us by the processors. Meanwhile, absolutely no money has been forthcoming from the retail trade in the form of a wholesale price increase to processors to cover any part of our additional costs. There are 1,800 of us involved and at farm level we have invested somewhere between €1.2 billion and €1.4 billion. That is the level of our investment in the business, but those who have made an investment in something that is 3 ft. wide by 20 ft. long by 6. ft high, with a refrigerator on the back, have all the power. Approximately 80% of the milk produced goes through the multiples. I have no issue with this, but I do have a serious issue with their not at least acknowledging that we have a problem and bringing something to the table to compensate us for our difficulty.

In the supplier group to which I belong we have lost 20% of the suppliers in the past five years. When I say lost, I mean they moved from liquid milk production to manufacturing milk. In other words, they moved from all-year round to seasonal production, while another 20% have signalled that they intend to do the same. These are not elderly people. Generally, they are aged between 30 and 55 years. That is the age category involved and it is a combination of small, medium-sized and larger farmers. Many of us are third generation liquid milk producers. In my case, both my paternal and maternal grandfathers milked cows in the morning and sold to the consumer before breakfast. It is an industry that is just about to flow down the toilet, so to speak, and it is happening in front of our eyes. I concur with what my colleagues have said. It is time for urgent action. I am not sure what action can be taken within the current law, but something had better happen or our industry will disappear. In actual fact, we are the ones who have an option in that we can move to manufacturing milk production. That is the option we have, but the processing sector may well be wiped out if there is no raw material available for it.