Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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203. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if construction costs associated with new milking parlours will be covered under a young farmer capital investment scheme in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10345/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have introduced some changes to TAMS under TAMS 3 to align it with overall agriculture and environmental priorities. For applications under the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme, applicants may apply for up to 10 milking units in a herringbone parlour, or one robotic milking machine, if they have fewer than 160 cows on average over the year preceding the making of an application. 

I can also confirm that the limit relates only to the milking machine investments and does not apply to any other investments under any of the 10 Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS 3) that are being put in place. 

When a farmer is planning to update their system, investment in the milking machine is only a portion of the required investment.  It is important that dairy farmers also invest in animal housing, slurry storage, fodder storage and making their holding more accessible.  TAMS has been designed to encourage farmers to invest in these animal welfare and environmentally beneficial investments before investing in additional milking equipment.  In addition to the investments being carried over from TAMS II there is a wide range of additional investments being introduced for farmers, including farm roadways, bovine fencing, health and fertility monitoring systems, automatic drafting systems, public road underpasses and milk recording systems, to name just a few. 

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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204. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason and basis for those farmers who availed of previous funding for robotic milking equipment under TAMS being excluded from similar supports under TAMS 3; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10346/23]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will engage with farmers and farming organisations regarding their concerns about the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) 3, which farmers believe is unduly penalising farmers using robotic milking; if it is the case that farmers who have previously invested in robotic milking parlour equipment are ineligible to apply for milking robots support under the new TAMS 3 (details supplied); if this will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10576/23]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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215. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will remove the inclusion of previous investment in robotic milking equipment as a criterion excluding farmers under Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme 3. [10582/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 204, 213 and 215 together.

I was pleased to recently announce the new and expanded range of investments under TAMS 3. This makes it our largest every on-farm capital investment scheme. I have introduced some changes to TAMS under the TAMS 3 scheme to closer align it with overall agriculture and environmental priorities.

Overall, we have approximately 100 new investment items for farmers to choose from in addition to the vast majority investment items from TAMS 2.

On the dairy sector, the list of potential investments is larger than ever before. In addition to the investments being carried over from TAMS II there is a wide range of additional investments being introduced for farmers, including farm roadways, bovine fencing, health and fertility monitoring systems, automatic drafting systems, public road underpasses and milk recording systems.

When a farmer is planning to update their dairy system, investment in the milking machine is only a portion of the required investment. It is important that dairy farmers also invest in animal housing, slurry storage, fodder storage and making their holding more accessible.

To this end, TAMS has been designed to encourage farmers to invest in these animal welfare and environmentally beneficial investments before investing in additional milking equipment. It is for this reason that there are limits on robotic milkers where farmers have previously benefitted from funding for these under previous TAMS.