Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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91. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has communicated with the Minister for Rural and Community Development regarding the low allocation of TAMS II funding under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020; if so, his plans to re-allocate this funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30466/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014 – 2020, for which my Department has overall responsibility, consists of a total programme budget of approx. €4 billion over the seven-year lifespan of the Programme. In line with EU requirements, this budget must cover measures and sub-measures as set out in Regulation (EU) No. 1305 of 2013. The funding was allocated and phased over the Programme period in line with the requirements of measure design and budgetary resources.

There are no plans to reallocate funding already committed under the RDP to the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS II). I am satisfied that the RDP as a whole will spend its entire budget and, therefore, there is no scope for substantial reallocations across schemes.

The total budget allocated under the TAMS II is €395m which is a substantial allocation for a capital investment scheme. To date, total expenditure under TAMs, including transitional expenditure, has exceeded €170m and we continue to pay approximately €1.4m every week. The annual budget allocations are, of course, subject of the usual national budgetary processes. I was very pleased, therefore, to announce that the 2020 budget for TAMS II payments will amount to €81.5m. This represents an increase of over 17% on the 2019 budget.

TAMS II continues to be very popular with Irish farmers. Over 2,600 new applications were received under tranche 15 which closed recently, when added to the applications rolled over from the previous tranche, means that there are 3,300 applications for consideration. The Deputy should also be aware that there are some 12,000 approved applications with farmers who have yet to submit payment claims. These outstanding payment claims represent committed expenditure worth approx €145m. Until such time as these approvals are acted upon or expire, the budget for TAMS must include provision for the potential expenditure involved. Current estimates indicate that the total budget available will be fully spent.