Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 10 Oct 2000

Vol. 523 No. 4

Written Answers. - Milk Quota.

Michael Creed

Question:

87 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has conducted any review of the new milk quota regime; the manner in which milk is being distributed to the various categories of producer for purchase; the way in which this compares with the amount of milk which they had available to them for leasing in previous years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21210/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The main objective of the changes that I made this year to the milk quota regime which operates in Ireland is to ensure that active, committed producers in the various priority categories have greater access to quota on a permanent basis and at a reasonable cost over the coming years. In terms of overall volume, close on 63 million gallons of quota was transferred this year under the restructuring scheme mainly to those categories of producers identified as priority categories.

The operational rules for the restructuring scheme and temporary leasing scheme for this year were designed to take account of the changes to the regime. This year's milk quota restructuring scheme catered, as a matter of priority, for those producers who no longer had access to temporary leased quota on which they had been dependent over recent years and for those producers who were unable, for reasons outside their control, to renew existing land leases. It was possible to satisfy 100% of the entitlements of these producers in a very significant number of cases, in very many others over 90% of the entitlements have been met and only in a relatively small number was less than 70% achieved.

Priority status in the operation of this year's temporary leasing scheme is afforded to those producers whose full entitlements had not been met under the restructuring scheme, and to those producers who had a track record of purchasing quota under the restructuring schemes over the past three years. The situation of producers who have had disease problems during the past four years is also taken into account in calculating the entitlement to temporary leasing this year.

I decided to structure this year's schemes in this way following consultation with organisations involved in the industry and taking account in particular of the views of the milk quota review group.

It was necessary, when deciding on the priorities for this year, to make particular provision for those producers who would be most directly affected by the change to the new regime and whose position, in the absence of priority access to quota, could be worse than last year. In this regard I have specifically asked the milk quota appeals tribunal to look at cases where producers, for reasons outside their control, have the benefit of significantly less quota available to them in the current year than last year.