This article is from page 49 of the 2007-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 49 JPG
AS the dust began to settle on the an- nouncement of the third Milk Quota Trading Scheme last week, the Min- ister for Agriculture, Mary Cough- lan, went on the attack in Europe, calling for an increase of three per cent in milk quota’s in the EU Coun- TOY Pb toncwio dale ule
The demand was made at the meet- ing of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Thursday and was ech- oed by a large number of other mem- ber states. Coughlan commented that she was very pleased with the level
of support for this idea as she had been in contact with a number of her counterparts in recent weeks to build such support.
The Commission undertook to analyse carefully the demands for in- creased quotas and to bring forward a report before the end of the year.
Minister Coughlan said that she was very pleased that the debate had now commenced on an appropriate and early EU response to the current buoyancy in the dairy market.
“We have been looking very care- fully at developments in the dairy market, including future trends,” she
said.
“Our conclusion is that the buoy- ancy now evident has given a whole new impetus to the wider dairy sec- tor following the implementation of the Luxembourg agreement and the virtual removal of market support mechanisms that have resulted from the reform.
“We have entered a new period of trade in which worldwide supply is no longer responding sufficiently to increased market demand. Dairy farmers and the dairy industry must have the opportunity to benefit from the new demand situation by increas-
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The minister said that the Commis- sion should not wait for the health check to respond to the clear signals that the market is now giving. If the EU hesitates now in its response, our competitors will take the market op- portunities that we are best placed to Tos ais Leon
“The milk quota system has served Ireland well over the years. At the same time, it must be responsive to developments in the market and an increase of three per cent from April next would represent an appropriate response.”