Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
75. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of TAMS grants that remain outstanding; to outline the timeline for these to be looked at; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47036/23]
View answerThe Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. The Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) closed to applications on 16 December 2022. To date this extremely successful scheme has paid out in excess of €425 million in respect of 35,457 payment claims. A further 20,475 have yet to submit a claim. Submission of payment claims and the processing of payments for TAMS II are continuing on a weekly basis.
Following the success of TAMS II, I have significantly increased the number of investments available in TAMS 3 to in excess of 430 items. The scheme will be in place for a period of five years, until 2027, with an indicative budget of €370 million.
Tranche 1 of TAMS 3 closed on 30 June 2023, with 8,241 applications. The scheme has proved very popular, with an unprecedented level of applications received (almost four times the average number received per tranche under TAMS 2). Applications received across all of the measures in Tranche 1 are currently being processed. Once the initial processing is completed all applications will be subject to a ranking and selection process, which is a regulatory requirement for all TAMS 3 applications.
To assist with the processing of the huge number of applications, I decided that farmers who require the construction of slurry and manure storage facilities, or urgent animal welfare related investments required for the winter of 2023/2024, may apply for priority approval up to 15 September 2023.
Assessment has commenced on all applications with approvals having issued to eligible Priority cases. It is expected that approvals will commence issuing to other schemes starting with the Solar Investment Scheme in the next two weeks.
