Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right to ask for an update on CAP reform. We have reached the end game in a decision-making process that we commenced in January at the start of our Presidency. I am flying to Brussels this afternoon which is one of the reasons I will need to leave questions a little earlier than normal - I also have a Cabinet meeting. I will meet the Commissioner tomorrow and the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Together we will try to map out a route to a decision by Wednesday or Thursday of next week, I hope. The final Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting of Ireland's Presidency will start in Luxembourg formally on Monday morning, but it will effectively start on Sunday morning when we will have trilateral meetings with Ministers and the Commission to try to finalise the bottom lines and negotiating priorities for individual countries and Ministers.

We have invited the European Parliament to come and be part of the Council meeting, if one likes, and part of the negotiations at that Council meeting. This is a first and has never happened before but we have never done this before. We have never had 27 - soon to be 28 - countries deciding on a Common Agricultural Policy reform process and in an equal process with the European Parliament and European Commission. We hope that on Monday and Tuesday in that Council meeting we will make substantial progress in agreeing the Council of Ministers final negotiating mandate taking account of the concerns of the Commission and the Parliament so that we will be in a position to go to Brussels to have a final trialogue next Wednesday, I hope, with the European Parliament to conclude a political deal on the Common Agricultural Policy, all going well. That could then be confirmed by the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, which hopes to have a meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday evening. That is the scheduling and process.

The Deputy is very familiar with the key issues, including greening, internal and external convergence, young farmers, market management, crisis support, sugar, milk quotas and the other things. They are being addressed through four different regulations that are all being negotiated at the same time. We planned for 34 trialogues to get to a landing zone or a compromise on all of these issues. We have had 31 of those so far and two more will take place this week with, hopefully, the final trialogue next week.

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