Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is aware, I attended the Council meeting in Luxembourg with the Minister, Deputy Smith. I observed at first hand the effort being made by the Minister on behalf of Irish farmers. It is fair to acknowledge that there are significant difficulties in the milk sector at this time. Those difficulties are probably exacerbated by the fact that additional people, who were not previously involved in the sector, got involved in milk production when prices were relatively good in 2007. The Deputy mentioned the possibility of introducing alternative forms of infrastructure. One of the difficulties with that is that it would have to be made up from the start. The initiatives that were taken by the Commission on foot of the proposals made by the Minister, Deputy Smith, are already in place. In some cases, they have been brought forward by a number of months. They have had a positive impact on the removal of produce from the market.

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