DEAR SIR: Dairy farmers and their milk processors need to direct their anger regarding the stalling of milk production and processing on this island towards national and local politicians.

The production and processing of milk on this island was stalled for 32 years from 1983 to 2015 by EU milk quotas.

The economic activity of dairying delivers close to €4bn in milk cheques on to kitchen tables in rural Ireland every year. The Government encouraged expansion of the dairy herd since 2015 which has benefitted all of rural Ireland because dairy farmers spend money.

On farms we borrowed money, bred stock, reseeded pasture with clover and grass, built yards and milking parlours, learned how to be better farmers and employed more people in rural Ireland.

Young dairy farmers, a near extinct species, started to reappear. Beyond the parlour we built world-class milk processing facilities and developed markets for our top-class products. It’s all we. We’re in this together as farmers and processors.

There is anger and rightly so against having a quota regime enforced upon us less than six years after unshackling in 2015.

It’s a national issue that has to be dealt with at national level. Farmers and everyone else involved in dairying must pick up their phone and ring all their local and national politicians today so this situation can be corrected now.

The potential short- and long-term damage to rural Ireland and our industry is untenable. We must stand together and make sure that Government and opposition know.