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

I thank Senator Lombard for raising this matter and welcome the opportunity to outline the current position regarding TAMS II.

During 2015, a suite of six measures was announced under TAMS II. These measures were launched under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and are co-funded under the European agricultural fund for rural development, EAFRD. The measures provide grants for capital investment in physical assets to assist the Irish agriculture sector to respond to a range of policy challenges. The six measures initially launched were: the young farmers capital investment scheme; the dairy equipment scheme; the organic capital investment scheme; the animal welfare, safety and nutrient storage scheme; the low emission slurry spreading scheme; and the pig and poultry investment scheme. The objectives of the scheme include enabling growth and competitiveness in the sector, addressing environmental and climate change issues, supporting the increased efficiency of holdings and improving animal health and welfare. In addition to these objectives, the young farmer capital investment scheme aims to address one of the key structural issues in the sector by specifically targeting support at young trained farmers, offering them a higher rate of grant aid at 60%, compared to the standard rate of 40%.

In March of last year an additional measure, the tillage capital investment scheme, was added to the list of measures. One of the objectives of this scheme is to facilitate the tillage sector to develop a targeted and precise approach, focusing on environmental dividends, efficiency and growth. There is a huge variety of items available under the suite of seven targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, measures.

In all measures, applications and payment claims must be made online, either by the farmer or by an advisor authorised to act on the farmer's behalf. The final allocation in respect of TAMS II for the full rural development programme will be in the region of €395 million. In order to encourage the drawdown of funding, provide increased budget certainty and ensure that all farmers can avail of funding over the entire period of the rural development programme, from the sixth tranche onward the length of time in which to undertake the works approved was reduced from the three-year period in previous tranches to six months for mobile equipment and 12 months for fixed building works. The period for the completion of works approved or to be approved under previous tranches remains unchanged. I am delighted that the scheme has proved to be so popular with Irish farmers, with more than 15,500 applications submitted to date. Of these, more than 12,500, 80% of the total, have been approved to commence work.

The figures are much lower where payment claims are concerned. It is open to approved applicants to submit an online payment claim as soon as they are in a position to do so. Within the approved deadline, the timing of the submission of a payment claim is entirely a matter for individual farmers, and when they carry out the approved works is up to them. To date, just 3,500 payment claims have been submitted. The Department has actively encouraged all approved applicants to submit payment claims, including by contacting approved applicants individually by text message. I would urge all approved applicants who have completed their works to submit a payment claim as soon as they are in a position to do so.

To date, payments have issued in more than 2,600 cases, amounting to a total of more than €36.5 million. All payment claims are examined and paid as soon as possible after they have been submitted. Where any issue arises with a payment claim, the applicant concerned is contacted directly by the Department to resolve outstanding issues. All 12,500 approvals issued represent potential outstanding liabilities for the Department. Until these approvals mature to payment stage, or the timeframe of the approval expires, a budgetary provision must be available to make payments. Until the budgetary position becomes clearer, it is not possible to consider adding additional items, including cattle underpasses, to the comprehensive list of investment items already available under the suite of seven TAMS II measures. It is not proposed, therefore, to add any additional items at this time.