Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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896. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there are any grants or schemes available to farmers who intend to build sheds within the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13778/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The recent consultation paper prepared by my Department in relation to Ireland’s Rural Development Programme for 2014-2020 includes a commitment to the introduction of new grants for investments in farm buildings. These include the provision of slurry storage and animal housing whilst it is also proposed to provide additional grants for new dairy buildings under an enhanced grant scheme for young farmers. The young farmer scheme will involve a specific grant rate of 60 per cent compared to the standard grant rate of 40 per cent which will be generally available under the other on-farm investment schemes.

I would hope to be able to include further details in relation to these grants in the Rural Development Programme itself when it is finalised in the near future. EU Commission approval for the Programme will be required before any new national measures are introduced on the basis of the Programme. Accordingly, it is not possible at this stage to fix definitive dates for the introduction of the schemes concerned.