Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

There is immense opportunity for growth in the dairy industry and that has been confirmed by the statistics the Minister of State has given. Exports last year were worth €2.66 billion, an increase of 17% on the previous year. Food Harvest has envisaged a 50% increase, therefore, the potential for growth clearly exists. At a time when there is underproduction in other states, with our neighbouring state, Britain, underfilling its quota by 10% and Bulgaria only filling 50% of its national quota, clearly there is an opportunity to do what I seek. I cannot comprehend why we cannot convince the authorities at Community level of the merit of the arguments we can advance. The €20 million super levy fine and the lack of progress on the butterfat correction are a sad testament to the Government's failure in this area. There must be a redoubling of efforts. If it takes a strong diplomatic initiative to achieve these objectives, that is what we need. This coming 12 months is vitally important. If we can get a breakthrough on this, it will be of huge benefit to the economy of this country not to mention the agricultural industry.

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