Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 228: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if all EU countries have ceased sugar beet production; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40855/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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A key element in the sugar reform package, agreed by the Council of Ministers in November 2005, is a four-year restructuring scheme for the sugar industry. Under this scheme, sugar processors who are prepared to renounce sugar quota and dismantle the associated production facilities may apply for restructuring aid. The objective of the scheme is to take out up to 6 million tonnes of sugar quota in order to restore balance to the EU sugar market.

For the first year of the scheme, the closing date for restructuring aid applications was 31 July 2006. Nine applications from five Member States, including Ireland, have been approved in respect of a total of 1.19 million tonnes of sugar quota. The Irish quota was 199,260 tonnes, equivalent to 3.3% of the 6 million tonnes target.

The deadline for submission of applications in the second year of the scheme is 31 January 2007. The rate of aid available in the first two years is €730 per tonne of quota renounced but this rate will reduce in the third and fourth years. To date, Ireland is the only Member State in which sugar production has ceased completely under the restructuring scheme. A small number of Member States are not engaged in sugar production.