Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to increase TAMS funding. [41975/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The overall indicative budget for TAMS II for the full duration of the Rural Development Programme (2014-2020) is €395m. 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.

I would urge all approved applicants to submit a payment claim as soon as they have completed their approved works so that payments can be released as soon as possible.