Mr. Ruairí Cunningham:

To reply to Deputy Ferris on the number of jobs in the South, I am writing cheques for 50 people, but there are north of 25 indirect jobs when one considers self-employed agents, mechanics, etc. It is a significant number. If the NDC campaign is as successful as it wants to be, Strathroy Dairy Limited would be out of the Southern market altogether and those 75 jobs would be gone. I imagine that the three large processors in the South would be able to take up the slack of the small amount of milk that we are providing, but they would not replace any of the 75 lost jobs.

The Deputy asked about another processing plant. The answer is "Yes and No". For years, there have been calls for rationalisation in the dairy industry, in that there are too many plants. We agree. Our plant is the best and most efficient on the island, which is the reason that we are the size that we are. We do it better. It is not that we have an advantage in price terms, a subject that Cormac will probably cover. Setting up another liquid milk plant would essentially double costs. Someone must pay. Ultimately, that would be the consumer or the farmer if the money was taken back from him or her. We prefer to leave our plant where it is and get the maximum out of it. That would be more beneficial for us, the consumer and the farmer.