Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. In his preamble to the points he made about the proposed scheme, he said the background to this is Food Harvest 2020 and the projected increase in diary production in Ireland. I understand Teagasc has prepared expansion plans for the dairy industry and the plans indicate it will be expensive to expand. This industry, by its nature, is capital intensive and there is a low margin return on the money invested in it. When the inevitable price volatility that will arise for the dairy sector is injected into the mix, any proposal that will increase costs for the farmer, or a combination of farmers in partnership arrangements, is dangerous territory to approach.

Is the model of the proposed scheme a template taken from somewhere else? Has it been modelled on a template in some other jurisdiction across the Community? For instance, will the authorities north of the Border have a parallel scheme running alongside our proposed scheme? The core question is the additional cost that will be imposed on farmers who will be stretched financially to meet the expansion objectives set out in Food Harvest 2020.

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