Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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259. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has analysed the historical impact of the European Union biofuels mandate on the availability and price of grain, including the impact on the cost of animal feed imported into Ireland; if his Department has produced estimates of the likely impacts on animal feed availability and price on the various options for restricting the use of food for biofuels, currently being considered in the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. [6663/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Energy policy and regulation falls within the remit of my colleague the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Alex White TD. Renewable energy policy and use within the European Union is covered by a number of Directives including the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC, the Fuel Quality Directiveand the Biofuels Directive 2003.

As the grain and feed market is global, prices are established at world market level and not at individual state or even at EU level. My Department monitors global and national grain and feed prices. Availability of feed stocks is not significantly impacted by the production of biofuels and indeed the main co-products of the biofuel industry used in Ireland – distillers dried grains – are mainly sourced from North and South America.

Given the limited production of oilseeds in Ireland and the relative low use of cereals for biofuel production, it is not expected that current biofuels policy will have a significant impact on the availability or price of grain and feed in this country.

At present, Ireland's concentrate feed requirements are in the region of 4.7 million tonnes, of which 3 million tonnes is imported. Almost two-thirds of this is sourced from non-EU countries.