The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, will hold a series of meetings with co-operatives and processors to identify the best way of achieving the objectives of the report.
At the launch of the report commissioned by his Department, Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society and the Irish Dairy Industries Association, he said it was clear the status quo in the industry could not remain.
Promising that he and his Department would do whatever was necessary to drive forward with the recommendations in the report, he stressed the urgency of moving on the issues raised.
Mr Dessie Boylan, president of ICOS, the co-operative umbrella body, said the report must be a catalyst for serious discussions at all levels of the industry.
"The study must result in an action plan that will be implemented. ICOS will continue to work with the boards and managements in co-ops to develop a strategy for the future, in order to achieve further progress and ensure a strong and viable future for our dairy sector," he said.
Mr Pat Ivory, of IBEC's Irish Dairy Industry Association, said too great a focus was being placed on short-term returns by the farming organisations.
They needed, he said, to adopt a longer-term view of the development needs of the industry particularly in light of CAP reform and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) agreement which could lead to a fall in milk price from 28 cent per litre to 20-22 cent per litre, €1 a gallon. Mr Mike Feeney, executive director, Enterprise Ireland, welcoming the report said the industry needed to take cognizance of serious issues and challenges identified in the study and to address them in a meaningful way.
Mr Ed Prendergast, chief executive of Lakeland Dairies, said he was concerned about the protection of the milk quota in the BMW (Border, Midlands West) region.