Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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1252. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for capital expenditure running €84 million behind profile, as outlined in the Mid-Year Expenditure Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37470/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Two capital investment schemes that have contributed to capital drawdown being behind profile are the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) and the Forestry Programme.

TAMS is a demand led scheme which means that expenditure is contingent on work being completed and payment claims being submitted within a given time period, usually within a year of approval. To date for 2023, a lower level of payment claims were received than projected. It is possible that the more favourable reference costs and higher grant rates in TAMS 3 may be driving applicants with existing approvals in TAMS II to hold off on purchases in favour of TAMS 3.

The Forestry Programme 2014-2022 expired in December 2022. Since then, my Department has been in intensive discussions with the European Commission to have a new programme sanctioned under State Aid Rules. This approval was received in August 2023 and the afforestation programme is expected to be launched and open for applications in September. This has also impacted on capital expenditure to date.