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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Feb 2002

Vol. 549 No. 3

Written Answers. - Milk Quota.

Alan M. Dukes

Question:

163 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason the Milk Quota Appeals Tribunal has not allocated milk quota to farmers coming under its remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6782/02]

The allocation of milk quota from the national reserve is granted on the basis of recommendations from the Milk Quota Appeals Tribunal. The tribunal is a body established to consider applications for additional quota from individual producers who have suffered severe hardship in the context of the milk quota system. I am satisfied that every application to the tribunal is treated in a fair and sympathetic manner. However, the amount of quota available for allocation is limited in the context of the large numbers of applications that are submitted and therefore the tribunal is not always in a position to recommend the allocation of quota to an applicant.

The tribunal gives priority to the following categories of producers – small scale producers whose entitlement to purchase quota under the 2000 and 2001 milk quota restructuring schemes was limited because of animal disease or personal illness, or where insufficient quota was available in the applicant's co-operative or dairy; younger dairy farmers with small milk quotas; producers whose butterfat representative levels are very low, and producers who are in financial difficulty. In assessing these applications, the tribunal takes account of the following factors – current quota size, off-farm income and-or other farm enterprises, size of holding, family circumstances, including succession, commitment to dairying, and previous allocations from the national reserve. In the current year, approximately 19.5 million litres has been allocated to producers on the basis of recommendations from the tribunal, based on the above criteria.

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