Extra Jobs in Dairy Sector Must Not Come At A Cost

Speaking on the Dail on Tuesday of this week I said that while I strongly welcome any new jobs that will come to rural Ireland following the abolition of the milk quotas, I cautioned that the expansion of the dairy industry could come at a cost to other sectors within the agriculture sector. “It is expected that the level of milk production will go from it’s present level of 5.4 billion litres annually to 8.4 billion litres and that would require a huge increase in the national dairy herd. Naturally, I welcome any extra jobs that will be provided in rural areas as a result but we have to be careful that we do not damage the beef industry in the process. There will be more calves as a result of the increase in the herd and we will need to develop more export markets for these calves because if they remain in the country it will play into the hands of the big beef factories and will damage the beef suckler sector. This situation will have to be monitored on an ongoing basis”