Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Another matter the Minister is aware of is targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, TAMS, grants for farmers where they unwittingly dealt with leasing companies and are being refused the grant. Something will have to be done for those who have applied and who had dealt unwittingly with leasing companies. One person I know of paid a lot of money out of his own pocket and went to the leasing company then for the rest to purchase a vacuum pack. He is owed €10,300 and cannot get it. He is being robbed of his TAMS grant. I am asking the Minister to do something for the people who are caught, and to make it clear from here on, that anyone who deals with a leasing company will not get their TAMS grant because this is hurting many people. The Minister knows these people and so do I. Something will have to be done at Government level to ensure that these poor people get their grant and to put some impediment in place so that these companies are not allowed to give money where the farmer is trying to access a TAMS grant. I am pleading with the Minister as this is important to the people affected. There may not be a great number of them but there are enough to require that something be done for them. They are asking us, who are elected by the people. I am asking the Minister and his Government to do something about this issue, where people are unwittingly being caught by the leasing companies in the way they access their funding from them rather than from the bank.