I should be glad to share my time with my constituency colleague, Deputy Paul Bradford.
I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Deputy Deenihan, on his appointment and wish him every success in his endeavours to bring about a more successful and profitable agricultural industry. I have no doubt that he will be successful in that aim.
It gives me no joy to raise such an important matter on the Adjournment as three weeks only remain of the quota year 1994-95. This country to date has 12 million gallons of milk above quota at a cost of £16 million to our farmers and the State. A huge amount of money must be found. This is the highest recorded increase since the quota was introduced many years ago.
I am firmly convinced that, were the quota based on the calendar year, it would not be as difficult for farmers to control the problem but they have no choice at present. I would urge the Minister of State to renegotiate the terms of the superlevy in Brussels, ensuring that it is based on the calendar year. Up to 1 January last 4,000 farmers had been affected and had not received any milk cheques for four months. Since then an additional 2,000 farmers have been penalised, representing a total of 6,000 farmers.
This island is entitled to some concession from the European Union. In this respect I shall outline a number of options to the Minister which I have no doubt he will take on board. Since he fully understands the position, I am convinced he will do his level best. There should be agreement on both sides of the House on this very important matter. The quota year 1994-95 should be rolled over into 1995-96 because of the bad weather and high costs of production and the consequent hardships. That would be a good option and allow all farmers to be paid for milk supplied in 1994-95.
The other option I propose is that the Minister seek a meeting with his agricultural counterparts in the Commission, requesting that the rules be relaxed on the transfer of milk from one member state to another. I understand that the Netherlands is 0.03 per cent under quota and Germany 2 per cent under quota. These two countries have a huge milk pool. The Commission should divide the flexi-milk available from those countries between all the countries over quota. Since we have one of the smallest quotas and gallonages within the European Union, if that proposal were accepted we would overcome our difficulty, thus allowing farmers to be paid. This represents a very constructive option which should be pursued.
The Minister should also seek a concession from the European Union that excess quota milk be processed at dairies, allowing farmers to recoup that milk for domestic usage and animal feedstuffs. That should have been an option long before now in other years when we had excess quota.
Many farmers are almost facing bankruptcy and will be unable to maintain themselves, their families or their livestock or to buy feedstuffs. I am convinced that some farmers will have to dispose of assets to overcome this crisis. I urge the Minister to seek some help from the financial institutions in making soft loans available to farmers, at low interest rates, to allow them overcome these difficulties.