§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his oral statement of 11 May 2000,Official Report, column 1031, concerning the Irish milk quota, if he will identify the agreement cited by the Irish Government; and on what basis it bound British negotiators, and those of other parties, to accept Irish demands on milk quota. [122971]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 May 2000]: The agreement that the Irish Government used in the Agenda 2000 negotiations was reached in the Agriculture Council of March 1984. This agreement stated that when distributing quota from the reserve, priority will be given to Ireland.
Ireland was able to cite this agreement, to which the UK Government of the time had been a party, in its argument to negotiate an additional allocation of quota.