Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

This question deals with a similar issue. Deputy Stanton wants detailed figures, which is his style. I should explain that the quota year runs from March to March rather than from January to December.

For the quota years 2005-06 to 2009-10, the breakdown of the amount of milk produced by Irish dairy farmers, and the subsequent quota position, was as follows:

The figure has been increasing steadily but slightly year on year. Part of the health check agreement was that we would be allowed to increase our quota by approximately 1% each year in the build up to 2015, when quotas would be abolished. This was the supposed soft landing for quotas. We were to be allowed a slight increase in quota which would facilitate a reduction in the fiscal value of the quota as we moved towards phasing out quotas entirely.

The soft landing is not working for Ireland. The value of quota is still high here, in Denmark and in the Netherlands. In fact, it is higher in Denmark this year than it has ever been. The soft landing might be working for some member states but it is not working for us. That is why questions like this continue to be asked, correctly, by Deputies on both sides of the House who want to make sure I am pushing this issue as hard as I can on behalf of farmers. I can assure Members that I am doing so. Moving to flexibility measures outside the existing health check agreement will be difficult.

There will be an opportunity to raise this issue in the autumn. Following the collapse of milk prices in 2009, the EU Commission established a dairy group to look at ways to support prices and prevent a recurrence of the fluctuations we saw in that year. The Commission is now acting on a report produced by that group and will present proposals in the autumn in that regard. However, nothing in those proposals will suit Ireland.

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