Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

When a working group is being established, there are always more organisations and individual representatives seeking access and participating than it is possible to facilitate otherwise it would become unwieldy. Apart from the working group and the consultative group, the Department meets other groups. More than any other Department, it is open to meeting groups, consultation and policy input. The group mentioned can be facilitated with meetings at official level and its views will be considered, even if it does not participate in the working group's meetings. That group does not work on an ongoing basis. It has a number of meetings that coincide with developments following high level group meetings in Brussels.

Oireachtas Members from all parties come to me seeking the participation of various groups. There are often good reasons for their participation but it is not always possible to facilitate all groups. I can assure Deputy Creed, however, that because an individual or group does not participate in the working group, it does not mean its views will not be taken into consideration in the work of that group. There are disparate opinions in the dairy sector and we are listening to all sides about the particular issues and difficulties that have faced the dairy sector in the last 16 months.

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