Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

This group would have met people at official level, although I am open to correction on that. We may be blamed at times for being too accessible to groups. The other groups represented on the consultative group also have disparate opinions on the dairy sector but the one viewpoint shared by everyone around the table is that the dairy industry has been going through a difficult time. It has improved, although the markets are still fragile, and we want to be sure we have prepared the industry for the abolition of quota that will happen in 2015. There are many issues there and more than anything else, the thing we need for dairy farmers is stability in incomes and adequate anti-volatility measures.

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