Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did have the privilege of visiting Tipperary yesterday, where I saw first-hand the €30 million investment being carried out by Arrabawn Co-operative and I am aware of the investment at Tipperary Co-op. I appreciate that Tipperary is one of the engines of the agrifood and rural economy. Notwithstanding the uncertainty around Brexit, these investments are a signal of confidence. I am somewhat surprised that Deputy Cahill would hark back to the Commission's handling of the skimmed milk powder issue because what underpins the performance of the dairy markets is the fact that the overhang of skimmed milk powder in global dairy markets, in EU intervention stores, has been removed. As a result of the Commission's skilful handling of that, substantial commodities of skimmed milk powder were removed from the equation and this allowed the market to trade more freely without that depressant hanging over it. The Deputy's remark was an unusual starting point in the context of the dairy industry. I am sure dairy processors around the country would confirm to him that this has been a welcome development insofar as managing a difficult situation in the dairy industry is concerned. The Commission deserves some credit in that regard.

The range of interventions will be across the commodity areas, beef included, and will include the traditional ones of intervention and aids to private storage. I take the Deputy's point about intervention not being of much value in the context of beef. Our ambition in the context of what might happen in a worst-case scenario in the UK is to keep our product on the supermarket shelves there, and to do that will require exceptional aid.

See this speech in context