Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share the concern of Deputy Ferris. We are taking the issue very seriously, which is why we have taken our time and undertaken a very thorough investigation. It is true that a number of parties are involved - a school, a large food processing company and a large farmer who was managing farming operations on behalf of the school. It has taken a while to get our head around the issues because of the complexity involved. I assure Deputy Ferris that we are taking the issue very seriously. Under no circumstances will I allow dairy farmers, who should be in a position to avail of a reallocated quota because there is unused quota, to be prevented from doing so due to wrongdoing. We will have a full outcome to the case in the next week or fortnight. We will put matters right in terms of what happened.

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