DEAR SIR: I recently went to see my accountant and he informed me that it had cost me 30c/l on average last year to produce milk and I only averaged a price of 27c/l for the year.

To make matters worse, I’m facing a crippling tax bill from Revenue over the Kerry Co-op patron shares I received. Without the Kerry Group we would have nothing in north Kerry.

I recently read that Irish contractors employ 10,000 people annually so imagine what farming as a whole employs in this country. I find it puzzling the way in which Revenue are carrying out such a relentless pursuit of us milk suppliers to Kerry Group.

For every €1 that us 3,500 farmers allegedly owe to Revenue, Apple owes €272. Our own Government is going to the European Supreme Court to try and stop Apple from having to pay the tax they owe us.

My bank manager has already advised me that I won’t be able to borrow money against the value of my co-op shares to pay the tax bill due to the shares only being traded on the grey market which leaves a big question mark over the true value of these shares.

In the last seven years, there have only been 128 sales of these co-op shares. Now the majority of the 3,500 people who received these shares are going to have to sell them all at the same time.

The supply of co-op shares on the grey market is going to be astronomical when we all have to sell them to pay this tax bill and due to the recent tax problems arising from owning the shares, the demand for them is already spiralling, so the price is crashing.

I was delighted when I recently read that Mundy Hayes is the new chairman of the Co-op board. I have every faith in Mundy leading us out of this trouble and doing a full conversion of our co-op shares into their plc form as this is the only realistic chance we have of being able to raise the funds to pay our tax bills. Truth be told, the co-op shares in their current form have proven to be nothing but a liability to us farmers.