Irish milk production in 2016 increased 4.4% on 2015 levels, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
Last year, Irish milk production stood at 6.6 billion litres. This compared to the 6.3 billion litres produced in 2015.
For December 2016, domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 177.6m litres, 2.2% below the corresponding 2015 figure.
Comparing the December 2016 milk produce figures with those for December 2015 shows that total milk sold for human consumption increased by 5.2% to 43.8m litres.
Butter production was up 4.7 % to 847,000t.
EU milk production falls for the sixth month in a row
Meanwhile, the latest figures from the EU Milk Market Observatory (MMO) show that EU milk deliveries were 3.7% lower in November 2016 than the corresponding month in 2015, the sixth consecutive month with a reduction.
This is the equivalent of a decrease of 440,000t on November 2015 levels.
In the first 11 months of 2016, EU milk collections were up by 0.7% on the same period in 2015.
Significant decreases have been reported in major producing Member States such as the UK, France and Germany, although in some others, such as Poland, Ireland and The Netherlands, the decline is not that pronounced.
For the January to November period of 2016, Irish milk production was up 4.8% on the 11 month period previous, while UK production fell 4.2%.
For 2017, output could progressively reach and exceed 2016 levels as a reaction to higher milk prices, Eucolait, the association for the European dairy trade, said it its report to the MMO.
Eucolait has estimated that for 2017, EU milk production will increase by 0.5%.