Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of Council of Ministers meetings attended by Ministers at her Department for each of the past three years in tabular form; the number of decisions made by the Council at those meetings; the number of occasions on which those decisions were decided upon by a vote; the number of occasions on which Ireland voted against a decision which was adopted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19047/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The EU operates in a manner which encourages and facilitates the search for agreement between the Member States. While the Treaties provide that the principal method of reaching Council decisions is by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV), recourse to voting is very rare because agreement is normally achieved through negotiation and the search for compromise.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. In general health matters are dealt with on one day of the EPSCO Council meetings. The information set out below relates to decisions taken on the dates on which a Minister from my Department was in attendance.