1356 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will make additional milk quota available to a co-op (details supplied) in County Kilkenny in view of their circumstances. [1841/07]

The Milk Quota Regime in Ireland is operated at Milk Purchaser/Co-operative level in accordance with the Regulations set by my Department. Under the old Restructuring Scheme, a primary condition of the scheme was that quota sold into the restructuring pool by a co-op's suppliers was available for purchase by that co-op's suppliers in the first instance.

The new Milk Quota Trading Scheme, which has replaced the Restructuring Scheme from the 2007/08 quota year, is also operating at Milk Purchaser level. However, I have made provision in the new scheme to allow Milk Purchasers to group together for the purposes of trading quota, without having to form a registered group of purchasers under the milk quota Regulations.