Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The initiative is under way in that regard. I have mentioned the butterfat issue at practically every Council meeting I have been at. We have been taking Ministers aside on an informal basis and also setting up the formal bilateral meetings that I outlined in the answer to the question.

The problem is there is no mechanism to force the EU to accept a butterfat correction. The reason we have chosen to focus on butterfat correction is that the Commission has the capacity to introduce that measure without having to seek a vote in Parliament or in Council. It could have introduced it through regulation, which would have given Ireland breathing space of 1% to 1.5% extra on top of our current increase of 1% in quota. Unfortunately, that has not been possible, mainly because big powers, such as France and Germany, do not want to see this happen.

Countries are saying that there is a formal review of the health check coming up at the end of 2012 and that is the time to discuss these issues. Despite the fact that Ireland and the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and Cyprus, which have strongly supported us on this, have been pushing hard, the Commission has stated essentially that it is not up to it to change this and if a majority of member states come to the Commission and say they want it changed, the Commission will look at it. Unfortunately, we do not have that majority at present. That is the political reality. There are countries which do not want to see any more flexibility in the quota system because they think that will impact on price. Ireland disagrees with that, but we do not have sufficient numbers in Council to be able to force a change in policy.

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