Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his policy regarding the release of butter and SMP intervention stocks by the EU Commission. [43632/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Common Agriculture Policy provides a range of measures that can be used to assist the dairy market, and these were modified in the CAP reforms of 1999 and 2003. In the Health Check negotiations last year there was pressure to remove or weaken the support measures significantly. At that time I fought hard to keep the key market instruments in place and these were used effectively to help support the market this year.

One of the key market measures is Intervention for butter and skimmed milk powder. Earlier this year, in response to the deteriorating markets, Intervention was continued beyond the mandatory fixed limits. In July Council agreed to implement a special measure to extend Intervention beyond August, to February 2010, and to 2011 if necessary. Both of those decisions helped to stabilise the market.

The issue of releasing stocks from Intervention is also very important and must be handled carefully. I welcomed the commitment given by Commissioner Fischer Boel in October to manage the release of stocks from Intervention in a prudent manner. We are seeing some tentative signs of an improvement in dairy markets, though a solid recovery is still uncertain, and it is crucial that the disposal of stocks from intervention is managed in a sensitive manner and in a way that does not undermine the market at this critical time.