asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the manner in which the additional milk quota will be allocated among Irish farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
10.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Milk Quota.
1.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give an assurance that the entire 11 million gallon extra milk quota, which will become available under the European Council's decision to increase our national quota by 1 per cent, will be entirely allocated to farmers with very small quotas and to young farmers entering milk production for the first time; and the quota threshold which he will adopt for the allocation of the extra milk that will become available.
19.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make a statement on the increase in milk quotas recently announced; if he will give details of the distribution of this quota; whether he will give special consideration to small producers in the distribution of the quota; and whether this increase is adequate to meet the needs of this country.
26.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the category of farmers who will benefit from the recent EC announcement that 11 million gallons of milk quota will be made available to this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
30.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if, following on the distribution of the 1 per cent of national quota, that is 11 million gallons, he has any further proposals for a redistribution of the national quota in order to give some further increase to farmers of under 20,000 gallons per year.
46.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the basis on which the additional milk quota now available will be distributed; if he will give priority to small farmers in any such distribution; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
57.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will allocate the 11 million gallon milk quota to bring small dairy farmers up to a viable level of milk quota, especially in the west of Ireland.
60.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will use all of the 11 million gallons of milk quota recently secured from the EC to bring small dairy farmers up to a viable level of milk quota, especially in the 12 western counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
62.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers in the country with less than 11,000 gallons milk quota; and if it is his intention to distribute the 1 per cent increase announced recently by the Council of Ministers equally amongst such farmers.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 10, 19, 26, 30, 46, 57, 60 and 62 together.
On a point of order——
Is the Deputy wishing to dissipate the precious time available for Priority Questions? If he is not I should like to ask him to resume his seat. I will hear the point of order later, not now.
My point of order is pertinent to the immediate business.
The Deputy wishes to interfere with the precious time for Priority Questions.
My point of order relates to the procedure being adopted by the Minister. Does this mean——
It is the function of the Minister and it is the normal procedure in the House.
This means that we will be unable to ask any supplementary questions on a group of questions.
That may be so but the Chair merely administers the Standing Orders of the House.
I experienced that yesterday.
I am adhering to Standing Orders. Following a joint request from Mr. Henri Nallet of France and myself at the price negotiations this year, the Commission introduced proposals to allocate an extra 1 per cent to priority categories in member states on the condition of no extra cost to the Community budget. The EC Council of Ministers agreed at their meeting on 19-20 November 1989 to an increase of 1 per cent in member states' milk quotas to take effect from 1 April 1989. In Ireland's case this will mean that an additional 11 million gallons of quota will be available for the current year and for subsequent years.
As the regulations setting out the details involved have yet to be formally cleared by the Council, I am not in a position to make final decisions as to the allocation of this quota. However, I have already indicated that priority will be granted to small scale producers and new entrants to milk production who were not adequately catered for when the quota system was introduced in 1984. I will take account of the views of the quota review group in the matter. I will be making an announcement on this issue as soon as possible.
I should like to ask the Minister to be more specific about small producers. A mention has been made of 12,000 gallons and I should like to ask him to clarify that figure. Will the Minister take into consideration the category known as the disease category, those who in 1977 and 1978 were advised to get out of milk production for a five year period. Some of those farmers were paid under that scheme and got 60 per cent back while others did not benefit. Those people got out of milk production because they resided in disease affected areas.
The Deputy has made his point. I should like to appeal for brevity.
Will the Minister deal with my appeal to give priority to such people?
As I indicated in my reply, it was precisely because of my concern for the small producers who were not provided for when the quota system was introduced in 1984 by the previous Government that I, with my French colleague, got the consent of the Council to provide for those people. I should like to assure the Deputy that, as in everything I have done since I was made reponsible for this Department, small producers will be catered for. I cannot indicate the amount of the limit for small-scale producers because, as I said in my reply, that will have to be clarified with the Commission. I will not be in a position to state what the final outcome will be until the Commission clarify the Council Regulations.
The Minister, in Circular 219/89 issued by his Department, referred to flexi milk when dealing with the category to which I referred. Will the Minister explain how he considers there will be flexi milk available when everybody knows that no such milk is available? I should like to appeal to the Minister to deal with the disease category I referred to.
I should like to assure the Deputy that all deserving categories not adequately provided for in 1984 are and will be a priority with me. The Deputy, and the House, will appreciate that I cannot give final details until everything has been clarified and sanctioned by the Commission. I should like to tell the Deputy that flexi milk does operate. In the event of some small producers who would qualify under the new arrangement not being in a position to avail of their entitlement now that will become available under the flexi milk scheme in the current year.