Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the discussions to date as part of Common Agricultural Policy reform to ensure price stability and a fair return to primary producers are a central part of this reform; the proposed mechanisms being discussed to ensure this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14649/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The negotiations on the reform of the CAP are informed by the need to support strong economic performance through greater market orientation while at the same time ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources. In this regard, direct payments support agricultural incomes as the sector adjusts to the reality of greater exposure to global markets, while market support measures continue to operate as a safety net at times of market disturbance.

Price stability is something that cannot be guaranteed, as recent experience - for example in the dairy sector - has demonstrated. However, a fundamental underlying principle of the CAP is that a safety net should be provided in order to protect producers from excessive falls in prices. This safety net was activated during the crisis in the dairy sector in 2007/2008, when measures such as intervention and export refunds were deployed in order to place a floor under milk product prices.

Market support measures will continue to be a feature of the CAP under the proposals currently being negotiated for the period 2014-2020. Indeed, in addition to measures such as Aid for Private Storage, Intervention and Export Refunds, further exceptional measures are provided for that would give the Commission the flexibility to respond effectively to significant market disturbance and other exceptional situations. These measures were included in the General Approach agreed by the Council of Agriculture Ministers last week, and will be the subject of further negotiations with the European Parliament in the coming weeks as the reform process builds to what I hope will be a conclusion by the end of June 2013.