Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to return to a question I asked earlier about price.

Let us be honest about it, the supermarkets control the world with regard to beef, vegetables, milk and everything else. That is a big concern in the European Union and it is an issue we must tackle at EU level. Otherwise, they could destroy all European farming. They can play any game they wish because five of them in different countries - it might not be the same five in every country - are in control. That said, if there is demand for a product and they cannot get the product, that balances it somewhat back to the producer. In this case, the only people who can produce the product economically for this island are the northern and southern producers.

Over the coming two years do the witnesses envisage the manufacturing price, that is, the manufacturing price plus a premium for winter production, being the determinative price for the southern producer of liquid milk, or is it the competition from liquid milk producers in the North selling at discounts because of all the surplus milk they had from the free quota? The second question that puzzles all of us is how the Northern Ireland producer can not only compete but be the price setter on the non-branded or own-brand milk when they are producing milk all year round, which as the witness said is a more expensive way of producing milk in total and given that many of the producers are both manufacturing and liquid milk producers and, second, sterling has gone wrong. Are they still the big price determinant?

Finally, Dr. Ó Céidigh might recall that at an event organised by the IFA earlier this year he mentioned that there is one retailers' representative on the board of the National Milk Agency. I understand that representative does not come from one of the big five. Would it be in the interests of producer stability in the market and ensuring that the Deputy and his cohorts can make money from liquid milk production to have a representative on the board from the big five multiples? Would that add to the ability of the agency to try to ensure a viable price is paid for milk for the long-term production of liquid milk, or would it take from it?