Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 130: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will clarify the ownership of the Irish sugar quota; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26224/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Under the EU sugar regime, each member state has a quota for manufactured sugar. There is no quota for sugar beet. The EU regulations stipulate that the quota must be made available to the sugar manufacturing enterprises in the member state. Accordingly, in Ireland the entire sugar quota is processed by Irish Sugar Limited, which is the only sugar manufacturer in this country. Irish Sugar Limited places annual contracts with farmers to grow a specific tonnage of sugar beet sufficient to manufacture the sugar quota.

Ownership of the sugar quota had never been an issue in the past because the relevant EU regulations do not provide for the buying and selling of quota. Speculations about quota ownership only arose when the Commission, in July 2004, raised the possibility of cross-border quota mobility, in the context of their initial thinking on reform of the EU sugar regime. Several member states, including Ireland, voiced strong opposition to the idea of cross-border mobility and I am pleased to say that it does not form part of the Commission's legislative reform proposals, which were published in June. In any event, the EU Commission has confirmed that the quota is not an asset owned by the member state or any other party but is simply a mechanism for regulating the market.