Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1172. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if, per Article 2(2) of EU Regulation No. 1306/2013 and Article 4(1) of EU Regulation No. 640/2014, he plans to ensure that farmers are paid their basic payments without penalty applied in respect of force majeure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52375/21]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1210. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if, per Article 2(2) of EU Regulation No. 1306/2013 and Article 4(1) of EU Regulation No. 640/2014, he plans to see farmers paid their basic payments without penalty applied in respect of force majeure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52548/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1172 and 1210 together.

Under the terms and conditions for the Basic Payment Scheme, force majeure may be recognised for a number of reasons, including for example the death of the beneficiary, the long term incapacity of the beneficiary or in the case of a severe natural disaster gravely affecting the holding.

Where an applicant wishes to rely on force majeure, the obligation is on the beneficiary to notify in writing, to the Department, the occurrence of such an event.

The notification has to be submitted, with relevant evidence to the satisfaction of the Department, within 15 working days from the date on which the beneficiary or the person entitled through him/her, is in a position of doing so.

All applications for Force Majeure are considered individually based on the facts of the case. If Force Majeure is recognised, no penalties are applied.

Where an applicant disagrees with a decision of the Department regarding Force Majeure, they have a right of appeal to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office.

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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1173. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration will be given to providing additional funding to farmers already approved under the TAMs 2021 programme (details supplied). [52397/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Every TAMS II application is based on the existing reference costs at the date of application. Some 44,780 applications have been approved under the TAMS scheme to date. Outstanding approvals issued represent potential outstanding liabilities for the Department and a budget must be in place to pay these claims.

All of the reference costs under TAMS II were fully reviewed in July of this year. The costs were increased in the case of own labour and in the case of 62 investment items, with increases ranging from 5%-40%. A decrease of 10%-30% was implemented in the case of three investment items.

A further review of the reference costs in light of the increasing costs of construction has now commenced. Any changes identified will be considered once this review is completed.