Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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233. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to provide an additional €11 million in respect of a dairy package so as to match in full the EU allocation which was recently announced and in which Ireland secured €11 million as part of a €350 million aid package; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27842/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I am fully aware of the pressures on farmers right now and I have committed to working with all the stakeholders, both at national and EU level, to address these issues and ensure that we continue to have a sustainable and resilient sector. In order to address the ongoing difficulties in the Dairy markets at EU and international level, the Commission presented a further package of measures at the Agri-Fish Council on 18 July 2016. The main component of the package is a fund of €500 million, which  in turn comprises  two elements:

- The  first is a €150 million EU-wide measure to compensate farmers for reducing their milk output in the final quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 (at a rate of 14c/kg). The detailed rules regarding this measure were agreed at EU level on August 25 and the Commission provided the legal provisions to give effect to this measure earlier this month. The Scheme is currently being implemented in Ireland and some 4,400 milk  producers have applied, indicating that they propose to reduce milk production by 72 million litres in the Oct – Dec 2016 period over the same period last year.

- The second element of the EU July 2016 package, to which the Deputy refers, is a €350 million fund that will be allocated to Member States in the form of  national envelopes, which each Member State can use in accordance with domestic circumstances. Whilst eligibility criteria will apply, Member States are afforded a large degree of flexibility in terms of the measures they might adopt. Ireland’s allocation from the fund will be €11.09 million. Member States will be required to notify the Commission by 1 November 2016 of the measures to be adopted.

I will consider the question of additional national funding in the context of the overall budgetary process and taking into account the finite resources available and the demands from across the agri food sector.