Dairy farmers were warned yesterday that they were over-producing milk and if they continued to do so, they would face a major fine from the EU.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said in a statement that by the end of October last farmers had produced over 1 per cent more than they had produced in the same period last year.
He warned that as deliveries were running at 15.5 per cent ahead of the October 2000 figures, Ireland could face a significant superlevy fine at the end of April.
He stressed that the responsibility for managing quotas rested with farmers and they would have to pay the superlevy fines.
"Individual producers should therefore look carefully and urgently at their own position and that of their co-operative or dairy," he said.
The fine weather in October was responsible for the over-production which could mean a two million-gallon overrun of the national milk quota of 1.2 billion gallons.