Milk Prices & Production Rights: A Doctrinal Analysis of Irish and EU Case Law since Accession
- NLR Journal
- Jan 14
- 1 min read
By Tadgh Quill-Manley, King’s Inns, Dublin, Ireland.
Abstract
The introduction of milk quotas in 1984 and their administration under the Common Agricultural Policy profoundly reshaped Irish dairy farming, transforming production ceilings into valuable economic assets while simultaneously denying them the legal status of property. This article examines four landmark disputes - Duff, Mulligan, Mohr, and Maher - that arose from Ireland’s implementation of the EU regime and reveals a persistent tension between farmers’ legitimate economic expectations and the regulatory character of quota entitlements. Through analysis of European Court of Justice and Irish Supreme Court judgments, it demonstrates how EU law constrained national administrative discretion, protected the economic coherence of the quota system, and repeatedly rejected claims that quotas constituted constitutionally protected property. The decisions clarified the limits of Member State autonomy in allocation and transfer rules, the compensatory nature of discontinuation payments, and the stringent causation requirements for state liability when administrative errors reduced production rights.
Although the quota regime ended in 2015, the jurisprudence retains enduring significance. The principles of proportionality, legitimate expectations, and the regulatory–property distinction articulated in these cases continue to govern contemporary CAP instruments, including eco-schemes, conditionality requirements, and environmental derogations. By tracing the interplay of supranational regulation, domestic administration, and market realities, the article shows that milk prices and producer incomes were never purely market outcomes but were structurally conditioned by a legal framework that both stabilised and disciplined farmers’ financial expectations. The Irish experience thus offers a doctrinal template for understanding the persistent legal dynamics of agricultural support in the European Union.
Comments