Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 410: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider changing the butterfat levels within the milk the quota system from its current average of 3.57% to 4% or higher which would be closer to the European average; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32023/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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EU Member States' national reference butterfat contents were set at the commencement of the milk quota regime, and were confirmed as recently as 2007 by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007. Ireland's national reference butterfat content is 35.81 g/kg.

Individual producers' reference butterfat contents have been subject to change over the years on foot of quota transfers, quota allocations from the national reserve and quota purchases through Milk Quota Trading and Restructuring Schemes. Milk deliveries are adjusted upwards where an individual producer's average (current) butterfat content exceeds his/her reference butterfat content. Until the CAP Health Check agreement in 2008, this adjustment had the effect, nationally, of increasing deliveries by approximately 4 per cent. The halving of the butterfat coefficient from 0.18% to 0.09% under the Health Check agreement resulted in the equivalent of an approximately 2% increase in milk quota in Ireland.

In relation to the reference butterfat content, this is established by Council regulation, and there is no prospect of a qualified majority of Member States supporting a proposal to make the significant change to that regulation which would be required to effect a change in the reference content. However, as part of my ongoing efforts to secure a soft landing ahead of milk quota abolition in 2015, I am seeking to have the butterfat coefficient effectively abolished, which would provide the equivalent of a further 2% quota increase for Ireland. This proposal potentially offers a solution which is significantly simpler from a procedural perspective. Notwithstanding this, I am continuing to meet opposition on this issue from the Commission and from other EU Member States, so I would again take the opportunity to remind all milk producers that they must continue to operate within the constraints imposed by the milk quota regime.