Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

While our part of the country may not be as efficient at producing milk as in south Leinster and Munster, when a comparison is made on a European scale we are very efficient in producing milk in our region. With regard to the peripheral areas of this country, can some form of a mechanism be put in place to bring the processes together? It would mean bringing together those involved in the industry to see where the bottlenecks exist and what steps could be taken. My fear is that post the quota regime, the big processors in the southern half of the country will speed ahead - the best of luck to them - and dramatically increase capacity but the region I represent will be pushed out of the industry altogether. We do not want to see this happen.

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