Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I have continued to speak to my colleagues over the summer. I will shortly meet my colleague from Italy where the implications for sugar are equally severe. We have not had a bilateral meeting yet with either the Commission or the Presidency. I hope to do that on the Monday night of the Council meeting. The high level group of officials will meet the Commission to discuss this matter on Thursday. I will not submit a negotiating proposal until such time as I have evaluated the outcome of that. However, the Group of Ten will also meet on the Monday night prior to the Council, where we will discuss the methodology for dealing with this issue. A strategic balanced approach and the timeframe will be very important.

On the issue of ownership, the Commission has confirmed that the quota is not an asset. Accordingly, it is not owned by anybody. It is simply a mechanism for regulating the market and this is confirmed by our legal advice from the Attorney General. One of the proposals is that if a sugar factory closes, the quota will be quenched. That means there would be no production in the country in question and this is a matter for EU compensation. Such EU compensation would come from a levy on the other sugar factories that remain in production. It has nothing to do with the Irish State. However, I hope I do not find myself in such a situation. The negotiations on this will be very difficult.

I have taken the opportunity to meet a number of stakeholders and national and local representatives in the affected counties in the region. I will take every opportunity at diplomatic level among my ministerial colleagues to put together what I believe will be a more balanced approach. To bring this to finality prior to Hong Kong would be the wrong decision. The matter would be pocketed, in effect, and we would get no credit for any work done. That is my major concern prior to the World Trade Organisation talks.

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