Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

We return to the issue of the EU-wide milk quota system replacing the national quota. I have answered this question, to a certain extent, but I must reinforce the message.

We are seeking a resolution that will allow flexibility for countries like Ireland exceeding their milk quota without having to pay superlevies. However, we are a long way from resolving the matter and we are unlikely to get a resolution for this milk quota year. I caution dairy farmers not to press ahead and produce milk above their allocated quota on the assumption that a Minister or politician somewhere will achieve a resolution to this problem by next March. The last thing we want to see are heavy superlevy fines being imposed on dairy farmers who are trying to expand their dairies in preparation for 2015.

With other EU countries that have a similar agenda, we will continue to seek a soft landing. Denmark and the Netherlands are obvious examples, both of which had to pay a superlevy fine this year. There are other member states that would like to see expansion of their own dairy industries in advance of 2015 while, at the same time, Europe as a whole would still be under its overall quota. That is something we want to achieve, but we are a long way off it at present.

The case for allowing Ireland to produce more milk is strong. It is nonsense that we are not allowed to produce more infant formula for the Chinese market because of dairy quotas that are intended to control the pricing of dairy product in the EU. However, that is what we are working with. There are countries in the EU that are uncomfortable with doing away with quotas at all after 2015, and they are slow to facilitate any flexibility in the existing agreement to allow a soft landing between now and 2015. That is the problem.

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