John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

With regard to the price supports the Minister mentioned and his talks with Commissioner Fischer Boel, what do they mean in a practical sense to a farmer who is offered 19 cent per litre when the farmer's production costs are probably 22 cent or 23 cent? In the last three or four years farmers have been mandated to follow EU directives relating to issues such as waste management on their farms, the nitrates directive and so forth. They have been asked to spend a great deal of money on their farms. In some cases the Department has announced schemes. It allocated €56 million for one of them but thousands of farmers have not even received that money and do not know if they will get it. At the same time that the Minister has imposed this burden on farmers, the processors are offering them 19 cent per litre, a reduction from 29 cent. In the case of some winter milk producers, it is a reduction from approximately 39 cent. The Minister must answer the farmers' questions. How are they to stay in production if that is the price they will be given by the processors? What is the Government going to do about it, considering what the Minister has mandated farmers to do under EU directives? What will the EU do to try to save some of these family farms that are facing non-viability within the next year?

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