Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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TAMS II is a capital investment scheme for on-farm investments. The EU regulations under which the scheme operates under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014 – 2020, provide that beneficiaries must be farmers or groups of farmers. The regulatory transitional provisions for support from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in the years 2021 and 2022 do not alter this definition.

Therefore, the Department is precluded from funding the purchase of equipment by contractors under TAMS II.

Under the terms and conditions for the LESS measure, the scheme is open to farmers who hold a Department identifier, and prior to submitting the nline TAMS II application have a minimum of 5 hectares of “eligible land” owned and/or leased or rented which have been declared under the Basic Payment Scheme or equivalent in the year of application or preceding year, or are engaged in the breeding, rearing or fattening of pigs and have a minimum of 60 production units at the time of application in accordance with Annex B of the Scheme.

The Department is fully committed to encouraging the use of this equipment. Over €40.4 million has been paid to date for investments in LESS equipment under TAMS II. The interest in the LESS measure of TAMS II has been very strong with 7,376 farmers approved to purchase machinery to date.