Irish dairy farmers have exceeded the 2011/2012 national milk quota by 60,000 tonnes, triggering a superlevy penalty of about €16 million.
This is the fifth time in the past 11 years that Ireland has paid a superlevy. The quota was set up by the European Commission in the 1980s to address oversupply. Each country has a national quota and if it exceeds it it must pay a superlevy. Farmers pay the fine, as it is passed to the co-ops who pass it to their suppliers. Ireland exceeded its quota by 1. 1 per cent and joined Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus and Luxembourg.
