I am very grateful for the opportunity to raise the important issue of milk quotas on the Adjournment. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan is present to respond. A detailed proposal on milk quota has been put to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Department of Agriculture in Northern Ireland by the Cross-Border Quota Action Group, which is representative of farming organisations and dairy co-operatives, North and South. The group's very well researched proposal seeks additional milk quota for the Border region to help regenerate that economy which suffered so much over a period of 25 years of troubles. All Members recognise that those troubles imposed a severe constraint on economic and social development in the Border region, North and South. Economic and social activity was reduced, the attractiveness of the area for industrial development was lessened, the tourism sector was severely depressed and cross-Border co-oper-ation suffered.
The Operational Programme for Peace and Reconciliation was established with the support of the European Union and both Governments to tackle those problems and enhance economic activity. There is a united approach by all interest groups, North and South, in supporting this proposal. The largest economic sector in the Border region is agriculture and, obviously, a vibrant and dynamic farming industry is essential if the economy of that region is to be developed. Agriculture employs about 18 per cent of the workforce and accounts for 16 per cent of the regional domestic product. Those contributions are further enhanced by the upstream and downstream activities of the sector to the economy of the region in respect of employment and valueadded. The dairy enterprise contributes more to the viability of farming than any other land-using enterprise. Dairying is therefore of major importance to the Border region, accounting for about one-third of gross agricultural output of the region.
The proposal put forward by the Cross-Border Quota Action Group refers specifically to the need to help small-scale farmers who have less than 30,000 gallons of quota. The number of milk quotas in the Border counties is estimated at 5,900 and the average quota in the 1995-6 quota year was 19,470 gallons. The scale of dairy farming is small when one considers it is 30 per cent or more below the national average. Similarly, the average farm size is small and the dominant number of farm holdings is small. The quality of the land provides little scope for farm diversification.
Two of the stated aims of the Operational Programme for Peace and Reconciliation are to promote rural and urban regeneration and create employment. That is particularly important given that the majority of farmers on both sides of the Border depend on dairying. The provision of additional milk quota would help enormously to regenerate that economy and its positive effects would be evident without delay. From an economic and social point of view it is essential that the maximum quantity of milk is produced in the Border region. A decision to allocate additional quota to farmers with small quota would contribute enormously to stimulating the rural economy.
Both sides of the Border experience similar problems, with the farm family population in decline, with the consequent loss of economic and social benefits to the rural community in general. The very survival of many farmers into the next century depends on additional quotas being made available to make their farm operations viable. To maintain rural communities, the maximum level of dairy production and processing must be retained.
The processing of milk and the agri-industry in the region contributes significantly to employment creation and additional quota would have a multiplier effect. It took political decisions to establish the Operational Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and the Minister, as President of the Council of Agriculture Ministers, has the opportunity to advance this important and worthwhile proposal. I am glad the Minister of State is in the House and I appeal to him, the Minister, Deputy Yates, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach to lend their full support to a practical proposal which would mean so much to my constituents in Cavan-Monaghan and my neighbours in Fermanagh. Farming in the Border region needs this boost.
