Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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708. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if grant assistance is available to assist a farm family (details supplied) in the removal of buildings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25912/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not provide grant assistance for the removal of asbestos in farm buildings.

The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) in my Department does provide grant aid for a comprehensive range of investment items including construction of farm buildings. This aid is available to all applicants who meet the requirements of the scheme regardless of their farming sector.

The suite of seven TAMS measures launched under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 have been very successful to date in terms of uptake with the number of approvals that have issued reaching over 49,000.  All of these approvals represent committed expenditure and until such time as these approvals are acted upon or expire the budget for TAMS must include provision for the potential expenditure involved.  The budgetary position is that additional investment items cannot be accommodated within the RDP budget.

Specific investment items have not yet been finalised in relation to the interventions to be included in the CAP Strategic Plan (2023-2027) and all appropriate new technologies will be considered. The Capital Investment Scheme, as is the case with all proposals under the CAP Strategic Plan, is subject to the formal approval of the European Commission.