Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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250. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on increasing the grant rate available for low emissions slurry spreading equipment to at least 60%. [2669/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The support for the Low Emission Slurry Spreading Measure (LESS) under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) is, subject to the terms and conditions of the Scheme, at a general grant rate of 40% rising to 60% for qualifying farmers under the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme. These grant rates are set in Ireland's Rural Development Programme. There has been significant uptake under this measure and there are no plans to increase these grant rates.

The maximum amount of investment eligible for grant aid under the LESS Measure is generally €40,000 per holding. It is also worth noting that the investment ceiling under this measure is, uniquely among all TAMS II measures, not subject to the overall investment ceiling under TAMS II of €80,000 per holding.

The TAMS scheme has been extremely successful with 12,500 approvals for Irish farmers to date. However there remain almost 10,000 of these approvals unused to date and until these applicants submit their payment applications, I am not in a position to consider new investments or grant rates under the scheme.