asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the likely implications for the Irish dairying industry of the recent decision to voluntarily restrain the exports of cheese to the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cheese Exports.
16.
Our agreement to participate in an arrangement for voluntary restraint of supplies of cheddar and cheddar-type cheese to the UK market during the two-year period ending March, 1970, was based on the consideration that, in the absence of some such arrangement, the threatened collapse of that market would have serious repercussions on Irish milk suppliers and the Irish Exchequer.
Can the Minister say if arrangements are being made to find alternative outlets for the milk?
What I would suggest is—and perhaps we may not have very long to wait—that the question and the supplementary would be more relevant later when the actual amount of cheeses that we propose to export will have been made known.