Dairy sector seeks help from Europe as producers struggle

THE dairy sector is set to experience an extremely difficult year in 2009, with the majority of milk producers making no income, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told yesterday.

Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe said the sector is one of the country’s most valuable indigenous industries.

It is comprised of more than 20,000 farmers, was worth e2.5 billion in exports in 2007 and employs 9,000 people directly, with an estimated 4,500 more in ancillary services