Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his views on restructuring in the dairy processing sector; the way he proposes to encourage, assist and facilitate this approach; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16890/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to ensuring that the Irish dairy sector reaches its full potential. One of the major challenges will be to ensure that Irish farming and the agri-food sector is at the heart of an evolving high-value food market, which is focused on quality and innovation. This is at the core of Government strategy under the AgriVision 2015 Plan which set out a series of actions to develop a competitive, innovative and consumer focused agri-food sector. As part of this plan, my Department provided funding of €114 million towards investment in dairy processing, which will generate an estimated capital spend of €286 million at full production. By stimulating necessary investment in the sector the Fund will help ensure the long-term competitiveness of the dairy industry in Ireland. In addition, various initiatives at producer level were taken in relation to the operation of the milk quota regime to improve efficiency of production. Furthermore, the Dairy Efficiency Programme and the investment support scheme for young dairy farmers have been put in place to encourage improved efficiency on dairy farms.

In terms of future policy development I expect to have a report by June from the 2020 Strategy Committee setting out strategies for the development of the agri-food sector. This will build on the actions taken by Government under the AgriVision 2015 Plan. The dairy industry itself is ultimately responsible for restructuring and rationalisation at processor level. Over the past year or so the industry has engaged in ongoing and wide ranging consultation with a view to restructuring milk processing in Ireland.