Mr. Phil Hogan:

They have. Every state has the same level of surveillance and controls. Some countries are not able to implement their controls properly, including the French Government, so we regularly have to give them time extensions to help them put their systems in place. If a state does not invest in the IT systems, it will not get the payments out to farmers on time. Ireland has made that investment over a number of years under successive Governments.

I referred to the question about volatility and to the fact that we do not wish to return to quotas. It is interesting that farmers responded magnificently to the recent €150 million scheme, with 4,500 farmers in Ireland deciding that they wished to participate in the dairy sector. We are looking at the lessons we can learn from the crises of the last two years to ascertain what new market tools we will need in the future reform of the CAP.