Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he considered postponing remaining milk super levy payments by up to two years, given the severe market crisis in the dairy industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14475/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The rules governing the EU milk quota regime, including the super levy system for production above quota, were set at EU level and it is not within the gift of individual Member States to amend the rules.

However at the request of Ireland and some other member states the EU Commission introduced a provision last year permitting payment of the levy in three annual instalments, without interest, on the understanding that the full amount of the levy was paid to the Commission by the Member State in 2015. The Scheme required applicants to pay at least one third of their levy by October 2015 with the balance to be paid in 2016 and 2017. Ireland was one of the few Member States to implement this scheme and make it available to its farmers. The scheme design was agreed in advance with the co-ops and farm organisations here.

As part of the discussions in the run-up to the March Council of Agriculture Ministers, Ireland proposed a further deferral of the payment to 2017 and 2018, to ease the financial burden on liable farmers in 2016. I also raised the matter with Commissioner Phil Hogan, in our recent bilateral meeting, as well as at the recent Council of Ministers meeting and encouraged him to reflect again on whether a legal basis could be found to facilitate a further deferral in super levy repayments for farmers. However the European Commission advised that the legal basis for the Regulations under-pinning the scheme are no longer in existence and therefore further amendments were not possible. While Ireland has again raised the matter with the Commission, we understand that the view of its legal services remains that there is no legal basis for any adjustment to the timelines provided for in the relevant regulations.

I would like to reassure the Deputy that I am fully aware of the pressures on dairy farmers right now and I am committed to working with all players in the sector to address these issues and ensure that we have a sustainable dairy sector going forward. As one of the proposers of the Dairy Forum my goal is to ensure that it continues to work constructively as a vehicle for addressing issues of concern to farmers and others in the sector. The Forum has come forward with some good initiatives for farmers already, including an initiative on improving cash flow planning at farm level, which will be rolled out shortly. My plan is to convene the forum to examine current market issues with all relevant stakeholders in the coming weeks.