Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position regarding the ownership of the Irish sugar quota; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37728/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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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 Ltd., which is the only sugar manufacturer in this country. Irish Sugar Ltd. places annual contracts with farmers to grow 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 its 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 it did not form part of the Commission's legislative reform proposals. 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.