Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I am delighted the Deputy raised the point regarding the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, particularly as it is such an important support for our farmers and farm families. It is grant aid to farmers to build or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings, many of which will assist in making farms more resilient in the face of storms.

In acknowledgement of the urgency of support required following Storm Éowyn, I opened a new tranche of TAMS 3 for a three-week period in March to deal specifically with storm-related damage on farms. The specific items in respect of which applications were accepted over this three-week period are as follows: back-up power take-off, PTO, generators; sheep, bovine and equine fencing that was damaged; and wood and biomass chippers and mulchers. Considering the recent power outages arising from storm damage, I reviewed the scope of generators supported by TAMS to include all generators, irrespective of the drive mechanism. The grant is targeted at the generator rather than the drive mechanism. While these generators are included as an investment item under the dairy equipment scheme, the investment is open to all farmers who declare the minimum eligibility requirement of 5 ha under the basic income support for sustainability, BISS, scheme in the year of application or preceding year. There is no requirement to be milking cows to be eligible for back-up generators under the scheme. For example, foresters and farmers with forestry, for which the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has responsibility, will very much benefit from mulchers and chippers as well.

In addition to these existing investments and to further aid resilience, I recently announced plans to introduce grant aid support under TAMS for replacement of roofs. The application process for this specific investment will be available later this year, when systems are developed. In the meantime, I urge farmers to carry out a structural assessment of their farm buildings. The suite of TAMS schemes, which includes more than 400 investment items, is the best mechanism for ensuring that funding is targeted at the most appropriate enterprises. That is why I made this particular tranche available to farmers in March.

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