Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the proposals he has put to the European Commission in relation to the need to provide adequate market support measures for dairy products arising from the Russian ban on EU exports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43686/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The EU agri-products ban by the Russian Federation earlier this year has direct and indirect impacts for the EU and Irish dairy sectors. At an EU level, two distinct camps can be identified; those for whom the Russian ban has an immediate and substantial effect and other countries mostly in Western Europe where the effects are less immediate. The Russian ban continues to have an acute effect for the Baltic Countries and Finland in particular. Member States, such as Ireland, who have lower dairy exports to Russia are affected indirectly as additional product is now available on EU and global markets. The volume of total EU product displaced as a result of the Russian ban is less significant when viewed in terms of total production, but is quite substantial in terms of the impact on the overall traded sector for EU dairy produce. In this respect the Russian ban can be seen to have exacerbated an already softening global dairy outlook with an increasing supply profile which is not matched by increases in demand. I have emphasised at one meeting of the Council of Ministers that this is an EU wide problem which requires an EU wide response.

The Russian ban has been discussed on a number of occasions at Council, including at an Extraordinary Council meeting organised by the Italian Presidency in early October. The Private Storage Aid schemes for butter, cheese and SMP, which I fully supported were introduced in September. This measure is currently suspended for cheese as the uptake was not in the main from Russian ban affected countries. Whilst the long-term fundamentals of global dairy market are strong and the EU dairy sector is well placed to gain from expanding global population and demand current forecasts suggest we are facing into a period of medium term price volatility arising from, inter alia, the Russian Ban. In this context I have called for the deployment of all available market tools as appropriate.

I have also made it clear that EU agriculture should not be disproportionately affected by a decision based on EU foreign and security policy considerations and the costs of addressing the resultant market imbalance should not be borne solely by the CAP budget.

My opinion is that based on appropriate and timely market analysis the preference should be clearly biased towards a pre-emptive rather than a reactionary response in terms of ensuring that the Irish and EU dairy sector can continue to remain competitive globally. I believe that there are an exceptional set of circumstances influencing matters right now and therefore exceptional responses should be considered. I expect that this issue will continue to feature heavily on the Council of Ministers' agenda over the medium term until such time as a solution is forthcoming.