asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries what is the present position regarding the implementation of the recommendations made in the following reports: (a) the report of his Department's survey team which examined the dairy products industry, (b) the Knapp Report and (c) the Report of Messrs. Sprague and Johnson; and if he will make a statement on his attitude towards, and plans for, the rationalisation, reorganisation and development of the creamery industry.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dairying Industry.
14.
Government policy in relation to the recommendations made in the Survey Team and Knapp Reports was set out in the publication "Agriculture in the Second Programme for Economic Expansion".
Many of the recommendations of the Survey Team were addressed to the dairying industry itself. So far as official action is concerned, recommendations in the Team's Report which have been implemented include the introduction of a quality scheme for creamery milk, the introduction of a cheese grading scheme, the introduction of grants for milk coolers, the establishment of the National Dairy Publicity Council to foster increased sales of dairy products on the home market, the marketing of Irish butter and cheese abroad under a national brand, and the establishment with State assistance of a number of factories for the manufacture of diversified dairy products.
The Government's decisions on the recommendations in the Knapp Report as announced in "Agriculture in the Second Programme for Economic Expansion" are being fully implemented. These include, in particular, the provision of additional financial assistance to the IAOS to enable it to reorganise its structure and activities.
I expect to receive at a very early date the report of the American consultants, Professor Cook and Mr. Sprague, who were engaged to examine the present organisation of the creamery and milk processing industry. On receipt of this report and on examination of its findings, I shall be in a position to make known my considered views on the important question of rationalisation of the industry.