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

I have spent a great deal of time with the dairy sector, and the dairy forum is discussing these issues. I speak to representatives of co-operatives and to dairy farmers on a regular basis. To put this in context, in 2013 and 2014 there were exceptionally high global prices for dairy products, and dairy farming was a profitable business with average incomes of nearly €70,000. In 2012, the average income was €49,000, which is very similar to what it was last year. The price drop last year, which was very dramatic, was disguised somewhat by the fact that we had a very good grazing season. Grazing right up to December was good on many dairy farms, so the quality of milk was very high. Farmers were getting bonuses on top of a low base price, which was disguising the fact that the base price had fallen so low. The concern this year is that when spring milk comes out, the farmers are unlikely to have that quality of milk because animals will have been kept in on silage, so a very low base price would be concerning. Obviously, we must do everything we can to work with the Commission to ensure we use the market intervention tools available to the European Union to try to get the base price for commodity traded dairy products back to some type of normality, which is significantly higher than the level at present. I am working with our Commissioner to do that.

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