Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising this very important issue. I remind the House that the rationale behind the establishment of this new element of TAMS was to further develop gender equality throughout the agriculture sphere, to encourage more capital investment on farms and, in many instances, to recognise the role that many females already play on farms throughout the country, in the day-to-day work and in managerial decision-making positions. For historical reasons, and because their names are not on the system, these individual females are not recognised by the Department or the State for their contribution. To encourage this is the key ambition behind everything we are doing.

The women farmers' capital investment scheme is one of the measures in the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, 3, which provides grants to farmers to build and-or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. As Deputy Kerrane is aware, an indicative overall budget of €370 million is available for the period from 2023 to 2027. All investments must be linked to climate, environment or animal welfare. TAMS 3 has been very popular, with an unprecedented level of applications received, at almost four times the average number received per tranche under TAMS 2. Good interest has been shown in the women farmers' capital investment scheme. A total of 259 applications were received under tranche 1 and a further 438 applications were received under tranche 2, which closed on 19 January 2024. To date, 68 approval letters have issued to tranche 1 applicants and approvals continue to issue daily. It is important to remember we outlined back in January that in the granting and processing system we are working through, the women TAMS, for want of a better description, was one of the last to open, which it did in June of last year. The solar scheme was the first to open and the first to be processed. We are working through them and we will clear them in the coming weeks. We had a meeting with officials on it yesterday and we are making good progress on it.

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