Farmers "got so badly burned" by fixed milk price contracts that they will be "consigned to history" according to the new chair of the National Milk Agency.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, formally confirmed the appointment of Jackie Cahill as chair of the agency last week.

Cahill, who is from Co. Tipperary, is a former Fianna Fáil TD and chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture.

The National Milk Agency was established under the Milk (Regulation of Supply) Act, 1994 to regulate the supply of milk for liquid consumption throughout the state.

The agency, regulates all liquid milk and fresh milk production for the consumer and is funded jointly by processors and producers.

The current rate of the levy, which has been approved by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is 0.155 of a cent per litre of milk.

According to Cahill it is his view that there will not be a fixed milk price contract on the table now or into the future.

"Suppliers got burned with them and I cannot see it happening," has said.

National Milk Agency

One of the National Milk Agency's key functions is to maintain registers of producers, processors and milk supply contracts between processors and producers. 

However according to Cahill it is not the job of the agency to set prices.

During a recent meeting with the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Cahill told senators and TDs that the agency "has a role in passing contracts and ensuring there is adequate compensation there for the production of year-round milk".

Cahill said in relation to milk prices producer groups meet the processors and they agree a contract.

"The producers are at the coalface and are not going to agree to a contract that would put them at a loss.

"The contract can be deferred and sent back for further consideration. That has happened in the past in the agency," he added.