Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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503. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to increase funding for TAMS and increase investment aid for commercial horticulture in budget 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42358/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The budget allocation for TAMS II for 2018 will be confirmed later today.

Under the TAMS II scheme, support is provided under a suite of seven measures:

- Young Farmers Capital  Investment Scheme;

- Dairy Equipment Scheme;

- Organic Capital Investment Scheme;

- Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient Storage Scheme;

- Low Emission Slurry Spreading;

- Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme;

- Tillage Capital Investment Scheme.

A wide range of investment items are available under each of these measures to help Irish farmers to improve their farms.

The  scheme is co-funded by the National Exchequer and the EU's European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under Ireland's Rural Development Programme. The total allocation for the TAMS II Scheme in the 2014-2020 Rural Development Plan is €395m.

The online payment claim system for TAMS II opened in July 2016. Payment claims for approved investments continue to be submitted to this system and processed for payment. These claims were received and processed at an average rate of €1m per week in the past few weeks following the busy construction period over the summer months.

To date 11,400 approvals have issued since the Schemes were launched in 2015 with an estimated commitment value  of €172m. Payments amounting to over €24.2m have issued in respect of 1,762 payment claims received from the approved applicants. The total number of payment claims received to date is over 2,300. This means that there are 9,000 approvals out there with farmers under this scheme where payment applications have not been received by my Department. It is only when these applications are received that we can make payments. I would strongly urge all approved participants in the Scheme who have completed their approved works to submit their payment claims to the online system so that payments can issue without delay.

My Department has contributed significantly to the support of the Horticulture sector through its grant aid Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector.  In 2016, €3.85 million in grant aid was paid to horticultural growers.  The grant aid paid supported some €9.7 million in investment by these growers.

Under the 2017 Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector, the budget is €5 million. Payments under this scheme are being made as early as possible, so as to try to alleviate any financial pressure that growers are currently facing.

The scheme assists capital investments on farms to promote the specialisation and diversification of on-farm activities, improve the quality of products and facilitate environmentally friendly practices and improve working conditions on farms. The scheme has made an immense contribution to the growth and development of the horticulture sector across all areas – protected crops, field vegetables, nursery crops, mushrooms, soft fruit, apples and beekeeping.

To ensure ongoing support for the sector, my Department has extended, under EU sanction, the Scheme to run until 31 December 2019.

The EU Producer Organisation Scheme is also a vital support for horticultural growers. This scheme provides an important mechanism for growers to achieve greater bargaining power in the marketplace by becoming part of a larger supply base. Between 2005 and 2016, a total of €44.6 million was paid to producer organisations as part of the EU Producer Organisation scheme.