Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I agree with much of what the Deputy said. The 2008 health check, which put the current superlevy system in place, was signed up to by the previous Government. I concede that everyone in this House recognises that we need to get more flexibility as 2015 approaches, and we will be trying to do that. Currently, the marketing campaign around food expansion in the dairy sector in this country must be based on the existing superlevy scheme until we can change it. We cannot plan to market food that will not be produced. Until there is a political solution that allows this country the flexibility to grow its dairy industry pre-2015 then we must plan our food harvest strategy on a significant expansion post-2015 and a limited expansion in terms of dairy volumes pre-2015. I would be the first to launch a new marketing strategy for increased dairy output pre-2015 if we could get a deal done politically on that. We are not there yet, however, so let us not pretend we are. In the meantime we must consider growth and expansion in other sectors that apply to Food Harvest 2020, for example, in the pig, chicken, beef and lamb sectors and other sectors that can grow and expand in terms of food output because they are not restricted by a quota system.

See this speech in context