Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the House and compliment him on the good work he is doing in the Department.

I would like him to include cattle passes in the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS II, which was launched in 2015 with a budget of almost €400 million. We are half way through that programme and farmers have shown significant interest in it. To date almost 12,000 farmers have applied to the scheme which is positive because the scheme helps them modernise.

Half way through TAMS II, however, only 10% of the money has been drawn down. There are many applications in the system. I have asked before that we expand it by including generators but today I want it to be expanded to include cattle passes. Farmers on fragmented farm holdings, some in dairy, which have expanded, have unfortunately seen large numbers of animals cross roads, main roads and by-roads. It is dangerous. It is also a drain on manpower if a herd is crossing a road. Labour is a problem on farms. We have a real commitment and vision in the food policy, Food 2025. There has been a large increase in the volume produced on dairy farms in recent years. A step towards helping these farmers modernise their systems would be to expand TAMS II to include cattle passes, which would in turn help with labour and health and safety problems.