Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he supports the continuing need for the use of market vegetable measures to deal with a volatile dairy market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11859/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) 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 in 2008 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 the importance of the retention of these support measures was proven last year when the dairy market experienced a dramatic decline. I have continually pressed the Commission to take all appropriate measures to deal with the dairy market situation, and there is no doubt that the implementation of a range of support measures helped to stabilise the market in 2009. I will continue to maintain close contact with the EU Commission and the Council to ensure that support measures are activated at levels that will make a real impact on the market.