Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total allocation for the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme; the expenditure to date; if he intends making changes to the scheme to increase uptake of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6986/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The following table sets out the indicative amounts allocated to each targeted agricultural modernisation scheme (TAMS) under the Rural Development Programme, 2007-2013 (RDP), the funding committed to date and the actual expenditure in respect of each Scheme up to end-2012:-

Due to the high level of demand by farmers for grant-aid under the Dairy Equipment Scheme, I have already increased the allocation for that Scheme from €45 million to €49 million by the transfer of €4 million from the Rainwater Harvesting Scheme. As TAMS applicants generally have two years from the date of issue of Department approval to complete the investment works concerned, actual expenditure lags very significantly behind the financial commitments made by my Department under each Scheme at any particular time.

I am, of course, conscious of the important role played by the TAMS in ensuring that on-farm investment takes place in a number of specific sectors such as animal welfare, dairy equipment and sheep handling. My Department keeps the application levels, expenditure trends and Scheme provisions under constant review in order to ensure that the maximum benefit will be obtained from this part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme. In 2012, this included a major revision of the Sow Welfare Scheme in order to increase the attractiveness of that Scheme for those pig farmers who still need to carry out work on their farms to meet the standards of the new EU animal welfare provisions which came into force at the beginning of this year.