asked the Minister for Agriculture if, in view of the special circumstances of the Irish dairy industry as a predominantly spring calving, grass-based industry, he will take steps to have the milk quota year aligned on a calendar year basis with the base reference year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

It is not considered that there is any realistic prospect of having the year for super-levy purposes altered to the calendar year.

Would the Minister not agree that in the Irish circumstances, whereby production is very much grass based, it would be very much to the advantage of the industry to have the year aligned to the calendar year?

I agree that in our circumstances it would be better that the marketing year coincided with the calendar year but we are sure that the other member states would not agree to that. Unfortunately, our seasonality factor renders it better that the situation would be as outlined by the Deputy, but other countries do not have that specific problem and it is highly unlikely that they will consider changing. Any tentative suggestion in that regard has always been dismissed out of hand.