Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 635: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, regarding the dairy compensation paid to members of an organisation, she will consider the circumstances of the case of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; if further compensation is due from her Department in the circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11527/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Milk Rights Group was set up to lobby on behalf of its members for parity of treatment with plaintiffs whose cases were considered by the Supreme Court in 1997, and who were successful in their actions in relation to the method of quota allocation on the introduction of the milk quota/super levy regime in 1984. My Department does not accept that it has any liability other than in cases that are already the subject of legal proceedings.

Under a scheme announced in 2001, my Department allocated a significant amount of additional quota under the AGENDA 2000 agreement to persons, including members of the Milk Rights Group, whose circumstances were similar to those of the aforementioned plaintiffs. These special allocations took account of the volume of extra quota that the High Court had determined might have been granted to producers in general who were pursuing dairy investment plans around 1984.