Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

The point I am making is not related to people who in recent times produced milk, I am talking about people who acquired the right to produce milk by virtue of purchasing quota and who received a derogation from the Department from an obligation to produce it. They had acquired this asset and hoped to be successful in the scheme for new entrants so they could amalgamate the asset they had not produced with the allocation under the new entrants scheme. It is a punishing initiative given the Government envisaged the new entrants would grow their enterprise and acquire more quota. This penalises the entrepreneurial spirit of those who took a risk. The new scheme does that and in the interest of the small handful of people who are in that situation they should not be penalised by excluding them from benefiting under this scheme.

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