Commission official to meet with milk producers and processors

A SENIOR official from the European Commission will visit Ireland next week to discuss the troubled milk sector with producers and processors.

The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the co-ops umbrella body, has invited Thorkild Rasmussen, head of the milk policy division, to a series of meetings on March 11 and 12.

ICOS director general John Tyrrell said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith is aware of the need for further strong action by the commission to utilise the market instruments available to support the dairy market and has taken up the issue with Commissioner Fischer Boel and with other EU ministers.