Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider the allocation of €25 million over five years, under the rural development programme targeted agricultural scheme, for the poultry sector to aid energy efficiency; if he will implement a system for dispensing medication, and for other supports, to the poultry industry. [18719/15]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Would the Minister consider allocating €25 million over five years, that is, at €5 million a year, under the rural development targeted agricultural scheme for the poultry sector which is the poor relation when it comes to the wider agricultural schemes, and also in light of the type of farming sector concerned, with its contribution to local economies because it is family orientated?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ferris. I met representatives from the poultry sector recently and they make a strong case. The rural development programme, RDP, for the period 2014-20 was submitted to the EU Commission for approval in July 2014. The programme includes provision for a new targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS II.  Under TAMS II, there will be a dedicated scheme for investment in the pig and poultry sectors, focusing in the case of poultry operations on a range of energy and water efficiency measures.  This will include a system for dispensing medication.  The standard rate of aid under this scheme will be 40%, but the investment items will also be available for selection under the young farmers' capital investment scheme, where a rate of 60% will apply.

The total allocation for TAMS II in the 2014-20 RDP is €395 million.

As a tranche system will be in place for each scheme and farmers have three years to complete the investment works concerned, very limited funding will be required in 2015 to ensure that the schemes can be opened. Now that the required letter of comfort has been received from the Commission, we are in a position to start the roll-out of the various TAMS schemes. The first scheme to be launched will be the young farmer scheme, including poultry elements, followed by dairy equipment, low emission slurry spreaders and organic capital investments. The remaining schemes, including the general pig and poultry measure, will be launched later in the summer and I will announce the relevant allocation at that stage.

I have told the poultry industry that we need to try to calculate how much money we have for TAMS II and when it is likely to be drawn down. That will determine how much money I can commit to the pigs and poultry sector. We have committed to a scheme for pigs and poultry. The question is whether we confine it to heating, ventilation, lighting systems and energy management or whether it will be something more substantial to allow for expansion of the sector. This is an ongoing discussion. I suspect the scheme will be launched before the end of July.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Approximately 800 people are involved in the poultry sector, at least 800 poultry farmers in the Irish Republic. These are all family farms run by family farmers and they are reasonably sized enterprises. They contribute significantly to their local economy and their value to local economies should not be under-estimated. The Minister has been in consultation with the poultry farmers and along with the IFA they would like to see a ring-fenced funding of €25 million over five years not for extending developments but to fund safer and energy-efficient use, improved systems for dispensing medication and for bio-security. Those are the areas they wish to have funded. It is essential for the survival of that type of enterprise that funding be made available and €5 million per annum would be money well spent and would provide good value.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy. We will make money available but I cannot give a figure today as to how much that will be. A scheme for pigs and poultry will be launched towards the end of July. The only question is how much will we have available to spend. The items outlined by the Deputy will be covered. Whether there will be a more extensive scheme for the pig sector in particular, where there is ambition for expansion, will be dependent on whether we believe we have enough money in the overall envelope of nearly €400 million, or €395 million to be exact.

I wish to reassure poultry farmers who have raised these issues with the Deputy that there will be a scheme for them which I suspect will be open by mid-summer but I cannot give an exact figure today as to how much will be provided under that scheme. I will be able to do so in due course.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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It is encouraging that the Minister plans to open the scheme in mid-July. He indicates that he will look favourably on the suggestions from the industry as well as from the farming organisations. I stress that as the Minister is aware, this sector is very community-orientated. The value of the sector and the employment it creates goes back into the local communities. It is a different type of farming. I welcome that the Minister is going to open the scheme in July and that he has indicated he will try to ensure that the funding of €25 million will be ring-fenced.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I have a lot of time for the pigs and poultry sector, a sector which does not get the benefit of single farm payment nor the benefits of most of the rural development programmes although we are trying to change that, in particular with regard to slurry management. We want to be helpful to the sector and the only question is how much we can afford to spend. There are competing demands. If I spend more on this scheme I will need to spend less on something else. It is a case of trying to measure how we can get best value for money from that TAMS II programme. We are trying to spread what is a lot of money across quite a large number of areas, from dairy expansion to pigs and poultry to beef and sheep handling, to farm safety, to young farmers, to the organic sector and so on. The money needs to be divided among all those sectors. I agree with the Deputy's request which I regard as a very reasonable request by the poultry sector to update and modernise its housing from an energy management point of view but it will be necessary to wait for the details of the scheme which will be launched in a few months time.