John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if her attention has been drawn to the statement by the chief executive officer of the Glanbia Group that he expects 2000 of Glanbia's 5000 dairy milk suppliers to quit milk production within the next three years because they cannot stay competitive due to the restrictions imposed by the quota regime; the measures she plans to introduce to ensure that such farmers remain competitive and can remain in dairy farming; her views on the fact that failure to take action may result in up to 40% of dairy farmers quitting milk production in the next three years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9667/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The milk quota system was introduced in 1984 to control the over supply of milk in the EU and the mid-term reform of the CAP has ensured its continuation until 2014-2015. Under the quota regime, Ireland has a national quota of 5.2 billion litres, representing about 3.5% of the EU total. This limited quota regime places production constraints on the dairy sector.

My role, as Minister for Agriculture and Food, is to ensure that the areas within my scope of influence are implemented in a manner which enables the dairy sector remains competitive and, thereby, continue to develop and support farmers' incomes. It is clear, in the light of the Prospectus report and the mid-term review of CAP reform decisions, that increased scale at producer level is needed to achieve competitiveness in the dairy sector and to maintain producer incomes. The current milk quota restructuring scheme model, which has helped producers gain access to available quota at a reasonable price, has been successful in helping to increase the average quota size by about 25% since 2000.

I will continue to review all aspects of the quota regime with a view to maximising the competitiveness of Irish producers and encouraging the dairy sector to make the necessary changes, both at producer and processor level, to strengthen and improve its position in the increasingly competitive markets in which it operates.