€11 million for dairy farmers totally inadequate, says ICMSA

THE €11 million for Irish dairy farmers announced by European Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel is a totally inadequate response to the crisis they are facing, according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association.

Deputy president John O’Leary said the fund should be viewed as a first step in the wholesale changes that are required to EU dairy policy.

The current health check dairy policy had clearly failed miserably at the first hurdle and the high-level group due to report by next June must chart a new way forward based on a stable price environment and rooted in the European model of agriculture, he said.