Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 248: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the extent to which Irish dairy exports are expected to continue or expand in the future in view of the reduction in the national herd; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9350/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has been successful in building EU and world market trade over a sustained period. This has been supported by consistent efforts to promote and market Ireland's dairy produce in these markets by Irish operators. Over 80% of Irish dairy production is exported to EU and world markets.

Ireland's milk production is limited by the milk quota regime which was introduced in the early 1980s. During this period the structure of dairy farming across the EU and in Ireland has changed. While the number of herds and producers has fallen milk yields per cow and farm sizes have increased. Despite these changes overall national milk production has remained stable at the national reference level of 5.3m tonnes and Ireland's dairy sector has continued to develop significant export growth, with dairy exports which were valued at €730m in 1997 increasing by almost three-fold to €2.08bn last year.

The key challenges in the medium term will be to ensure that family farming and the Irish agri-food sector is at the heart of an evolving high-value food market which is focussed on quality and innovation. This is at the core of Government strategy, evidenced by the new National Development Plan 2007-2013, AgriVision 2015 and the new Partnership Agreement Towards 2016.