Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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698. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify the situation regarding grant aid for dairy equipment under TAMS as it relates to young farmers who are over five years established but are still under 40-years and involved in a farm partnership; if the 160 cow threshold applies in this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11236/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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For an applicant to qualify as a Young Farmer they must be more than 18 years and under 41 years of age at the date of submitting the application form and meet the requirements of set up for the first time within five years of the date of receipt of an application. Date of set up means the earliest of the following dates:

- date of joining a Teagasc Milk Production Partnership or Department Registered Farm Partnership;

- date of application for registering as a sole or joint user of a herd number/other Department identifier

If an applicant does not meet either of these requirements then they would not qualify as a Young Farmer as per the terms and conditions of the scheme and so the 160 cow threshold would be set at 120 cows as per the other categories of applicants.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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699. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify the situation with regard to aid under TAMS for dairy equipment; if he will outline the methodology being used by his Department when counting cow numbers on an individual herd; if he accepts that ICBF milk recording data is acceptable evidence and a reliable methodology, as reliance on herd number data could include culled cows; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11249/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Through TAMS 3, I believe we have delivered a hugely exciting scheme that will deliver for farmers, for the entire agri-food sector and the wider rural economy over the next number of years. I have assigned €370m for TAMS between 2023 and 2027 with a strong focus on supporting this as well as subsequent generation of farmers. There are, as the Deputy will be aware, exciting new developments for dairy farmers including higher grant aids of solar panels as well as a range of labour saving items.

TAMS 3 is a hugely exciting scheme with approximately 100 new investment items available to farm families compared to TAMS 2. There are now in the region of 300 investment items in TAMS 3.

For applications under the Dairy Equipment Capital Investment Scheme, Women Farmers Capital Investment Scheme and Organic Capital Investment Scheme, applicants may apply for up to 10 milking units in a herringbone parlour, or one robotic milking machine, if they have less than 120 cows on average over the year preceding the making of an application.

For applicants under the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS) and also for registered farm partnerships involving a young farmer, the limit on cow numbers for the preceding year is set at 160 dairy cows. For those applicants under the YFCIS who have between 121 and 160 cows, there will be a requirement that they may not increase cow numbers for five years following payment of grant-aid on the milking machine. 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. Over 78% of dairy herds will remain eligible to apply for milking machine investments under the 120 cow ceiling, based on 2021 data and the average dairy herd has 90 dairy cows.

The dairy cow numbers for TAMS 3 are to be calculated in the same manner as for Nitrates. A dairy cow is counted as a dairy cow from when she first calves until she leaves the holding. The calculations are based on the average daily cow numbers for the year preceding application.