asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the amount of milk which to date has been purchased and reallocated under the 1988 milk restructuring scheme; and if he has satisfied himself that the scheme has worked satisfactorily.

On the basis of information supplied to my Department by milk purchasers, the amount of milk purchased and reallocated in 1988 was 33 million gallons.

I am satisfied that this scheme has been effective in restructuring milk production by transferring quotas from producers wishing to leave milk production to the special category producers who needed additional quotas. I have, however, asked the quota review group to advise on any improvements that might be made for next year's scheme and I will of course take full account of the group's view in the decisions to be made for that scheme.