Glanbia, the Kilkenny-based co-operative announced "solid" results last Wednesday with cries of derision from dairy farmers who claimed those profits were based on the low milk price they received in 2006.

As that argument raged, a major report on the impact of EU dairy policy changes on the Irish dairy industry was published and an international workshop on the subject passed almost unnoticed.

The Irish Dairy Industry Association (IDIA), the Ibec group representing the Irish dairy processing industry, had its sights more on 2016 rather than 2006, in its report on preparing the dairy industry for the abolition of milk quotas.

The EU limits the amount of milk member states can produce as a market control mechanism and Ireland is currently allowed to produce just over one billion gallons of milk annually.

The dairy industry, said the report, was important in the way in which it interacted with, supported and invested in the framework of the Irish economy.

It was built, it said, on the activities of approximately 22,000 dairy farmers and the processing sector directly employs 9,000 people, supporting an additional 4,500 in support and ancillary services. Approximately 85 per cent of Irish dairy products, valued at €2.1 billion are exported annually, representing a quarter of all food exports.

IDIA director Michael Barry, said that given the EU Commission does not see a future for milk quotas beyond 2015, a clear EU policy was essential for a transition to a quota-free supply environment. He said there was growing support across Europe for the commission's stated desire to end quotas which would have an uncertain effect.

"Past theories suggested that milk supply would sharply increase without the restraint of quotas," said the report. "However, these theories assumed a continuation of current milk prices and did not envisage the phasing out of the EU's market-management systems," it said.

"Despite the commission's stated intention to undertake a study on the likely effects of ending quotas, uncertainty will remain due to the increasing influence of external factors on agriculture, such as alternative land usage, biofuel policies and labour availability," it said.

The report said that for that reason it was essential the EU retained market-management mechanisms for the duration of the period in which quotas are being phased out. "This is essential to ensure the removal of milk quotas will not have a destabilising effect on the market," it said.

Calling for a debate on the issue, Mr Barry said the IDIA discussion document set out seven guiding principles that should underpin preparation for the removal of quotas.

The first was that future dairy policy must be clear in order to enable the dairy industry to make the necessary investment decisions. It said the so-called "2008 Health Check", a study of how the latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has worked, should be used to communicate how supply and demand in the dairy industry would be managed into the future.

It was vital that preparing for the abolition of milk quotas must allow sufficient time for the industry to adapt, and thus avoid potential resultant financial losses, the document went on.

It said the abolition of quotas must be managed in a manner that allowed the industry to make a gradual transition.

It felt that a gradual annual increase in milk quota was the optimum mechanism for transition to a quota-free milk supply and market management by the commission was essential during the phasing out of quotas.

Its final recommendation was the commission must continue to have an involvement in market management up to, and potentially beyond, 2015.

Last week too, Teagasc hosted an international workshop to discuss the impact of the quota changes and it announced that FAPRI-Ireland Partnership, (Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute) would complete its analysis of dairy policy later this year. This Teagasc policy analysis team said the workshop was another step in furthering the capacity to address the important question of how milk quota reform was likely to impact on the industry here.

The meeting this week between the Irish Dairy Board and the Irish Farmers' Association was also focused on what lies ahead. IFA president Pádraig Walshe said the IDB was build with dairy farmers' money and they, rather than a few chief executives , had the right to determine the future of the industry.