Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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212. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the discussions that have been held at political and official level in relation to sanctions imposed by Russia on food exports from the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49006/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The main response to the sanctions imposed by Russia is being coordinated by the European Commission and has consisted of the introduction of a range of measures to support the markets most affected by the sanctions, i.e. the dairy market and the fruit and vegetables market. In addition, a package of direct aid has been introduced to assist milk producers in the Baltic Member States and Finland who are particularly affected by the sanctions. EU agriculture ministers have had the opportunity to discuss the matter at each EU Council meeting since September and I am pleased to say that, as a result of our strong and collective pressure, the Commission withdrew its proposal to finance these support measures from the 2015 agricultural crisis reserve.

At the most recent Council, earlier this week, I called on the Commission to consider all possibilities to stabilise EU dairy markets. In so doing, I emphasised the importance of deploying these measures both at the right time and at price levels that positively support the market. I also sought the introduction of a scheme of aid to private storage of pig-meat.

At a bilateral level, in October of this year, I met the Russian Ambassador with a view to working bilaterally to resolve some of the technical issues that have disrupted exports of certain agri-food products from Ireland to Russia. Specifically, we discussed ways in which restrictions imposed as a result of audits or animal disease outbreaks in other parts of the EU could be eased.

As a follow up to this meeting, the Irish Ambassador to Russia, accompanied by officials from my Department, has been invited to a meeting today with the Russian authorities in Moscow to progress these issues.