Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2015
372. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount that has been collected early by Irish co-operatives in milk super levy moneys from October 2014 to March 2015; his plans for redistributing these moneys should a farmer now wish to avail of the instalment scheme for the payment of the 2014-15 super levy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28287/15]
View answerThere has been a long-standing arrangement under the EU Milk Quota Regulations where milk purchasers collect any super levy money due from their suppliers and submit this to their national authorities for onward transmission to the EU Commission. In a normal super levy year the purchaser is obliged to submit all super levy payments collected by them to my Department before 1 October.
Most milk purchasers facilitate the collection of the payments by withholding a portion of their suppliers’ monthly milk payment during the peak production months. This is to avoid causing any cashflow issues for farmers at the year end. However my Department would not have any details of the numbers or amounts involved because they are a matter between the milk purchaser and its suppliers. My understanding is that some purchasers are making arrangements with suppliers who are availing of the recently announced super levy instalment scheme to refund monies collected which are over and above the value of the agreed first instalment payment but again this is a matter solely between both parties.
The milk purchasers are currently processing and completing the applications in respect of their suppliers who wish to avail of the scheme and tomorrow, Wednesday 15 July has been set as the deadline for the return of these application forms to my Department. After this deadline has passed, my Department will know how many farmers are planning to avail of the instalment scheme and the amounts involved.
