Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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245. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the expected European Union dairy package to be announced at the next European Council meeting relating to voluntary milk supply measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21608/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I am acutely conscious of the pressure farmers are under at present, and I can assure the Deputy that I am committed to exploring all of the appropriate options for providing assistance to the farm sector through current difficulties. A prolonged period of volatility in dairy markets has been in evidence in recent times. However it is important to remember that the medium term prospects for global dairy markets are good. How we mitigate the current volatility is the challenge.  Volatility in dairy markets is a global problem, an EU problem and an Irish problem for which there is no single silver bullet. Fixed price and margin contracts, futures markets and access to increasingly flexible forms of credits are all part of the toolkit that will be required. In this respect we must continue to work with industry and the financial services sector at a national level to ensure resilience is built into the sector in the current period of volatility and going forward, strengthening our position within the global market.

Voluntary supply reduction is one option that has been advocated at EU level by some but I am of the view that this would certainly not be in the best interest of the Irish dairy sector. Regulating supply in times of price downturns is not an appropriate response because measures taken only within the EU will disadvantage EU farmers and co-ops, will undermine efficient production and will adversely affect the ability of farmers to benefit when the market turns in their favour. It would be a backward step to consider such measures now. This is also the shared view of the vast majority of the participants at the most recent meeting of the Dairy Forum on 21 June last where we discussed this issue in some detail. I do not believe that there is demand from the co-operative sector in Ireland for a supply control measure.

I am anxious that we must focus on other support measures that can play a role in supporting the sector and it is vital that we continue to work closely with the Commission and all other key stakeholders in this regard. Having discussed issues with national stakeholders, I am currently working with Commissioner Hogan and other EU Ministers with a view to finding pragmatic, realistic and workable solutions to these ongoing difficulties.

I believe our focus must remain on providing real, practical and immediate assistance for farmers. In addition to intervention, I have called for the deployment of other measures that will provide real benefit for farmers in the short-term in particular, the bringing forward of the delivery date for direct payments. Such a measure will be of immediate assistance to farmers in acting as a source of immediate cash flow and a buffer to ongoing volatility.

I have also asked the Commissioner to consider the deployment of a targeted aid package, similar to that provided last September. The September package gave considerable flexibility to Member States to adopt responses suited to their national circumstances, and I believe such a measure, with appropriate flexibility could play a further important role in 2016.

A number of other market support measures have been put in place at EU level, including an increase in the ceiling for SMP intervention to 350,000 tonnes, which was sought by Ireland. In terms of input costs at farm level, I have called on the Commission to consider looking at temporary suspension of EU import tariffs on fertilisers to reduce input costs for Irish and EU farmers.