Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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958. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to extend the TAMS scheme to include the funding of underpasses in cases in which persons have land banks on both sides of local, national and regional roads in view of the excessive costs of same, the safety of both motorists and farmers and the return of finances under the TAMS scheme to the Exchequer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46881/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The TAMS II Scheme has been very successful to date in terms of uptake with the number of approvals that have issued to date exceeding 11,500.  All of these approvals represent committed expenditure under the TAMS II measure of the Rural Development Programme 2014 - 2020. Until such time as these approvals are acted upon or expire the budget for TAMS must include provision for the potential expenditure involved. 

Of the applications approved just under 2,500 payment claims have been received to date, representing 21% of approvals. Payment claims submitted have been paid in over 75% of cases and these continue to be paid on an on going basis. However, until such time as the works applied for and approved have been completed and payment claims submitted, payments cannot issue. All participants who have completed approved works are urged to submit their payment claims immediately to facilitate early payment.

Approvals and payments continue to issue on an on going basis for the comprehensive list of investments already included in the suite of seven existing TAMS measures. There are no proposals at present to amend the list of investments available under TAMS to include underpasses.