Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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332. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when farmers will receive payments for ACRES; the number of farmers waiting for confirmation of a payment date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4794/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the deputy is aware, there was unprecedented demand under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Tranche 1. This is a reflection of the interest amongst farmers in taking on actions to address climate, biodiversity, and environmental issues. In response, all eligible Tranche 1 applications were approved, with just under 46,000 active contracts now in place.

ACRES payments commenced on December 15th, with payments issuing in the initial payment run to two-thirds of all ACRES General participants. Further payments have been made in January 2024 to additional ACRES General participants that had cleared payment validations. Currently there are 9,081 ACRES General participants awaiting payment. Work is ongoing on the preparation of Co-operation stream advance payments to the 18,408 Tranche 1 participants, and every effort is being made to deliver these payments as quickly as possible.

As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, all ACRES applications must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue. Validations are currently being carried out and officials continue to work to expedite payments.

ACRES General payments will continue to issue on an ongoing basis, as cases are cleared for payment.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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333. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1159 of 17 January 2024, with regard to the number of applications submitted to the women farmer capital investment scheme under TAMS III, the reason no applications have been approved yet of the 259 submitted; how many applications of those submitted are expected to be accepted to the scheme; when this will be announced, given other schemes under TAMS the number of accepted applications have been confirmed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4815/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. The scheme was launched in 2023, with Tranches 1 and 2 of the scheme receiving over 17,000 applications under ten specific measures linked to climate, environment or animal welfare. This includes the Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS), in respect of which 259 applications were received under Tranche 1 and a further 438 applications received under Tranche 2.

The Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme is a new measure introduced under TAMS 3 to address the issue of gender balance in farming. In excess of 220 of the 259 applications received in Tranche 1 have now passed administrative checks, with 15 approvals now issued to the applicants concerned.

I can confirm that 100% of all eligible applications in both Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 under all schemes, including the Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme, will receive approval.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. The scheme has proved to be highly successful since it opened for online applications in mid-2015, with in excess of €434.5 million paid under TAMS II, which closed to applications on 16th December 2022.

TAMS 3 was launched in 2023, with Tranches 1 and 2 of the scheme receiving over 17,000 applications under ten specific measures linked to climate, environment or animal welfare objectives.

Since the formation of this Government on 27 June 2020, 21,037 applications have received payments totalling €218,324,402.50, broken down by county as follows:

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested is provided in the below table. Payments will continue on a regular basis as cases pass all validation checks.

In addition, €6.7 million has been paid to date for the provision of, and attendance at, ACRES training courses. As the payments for attendees are made to the course providers for passing on to the ACRES participants, an accurate breakdown by county is not available as an ACRES participant may attend a course provided by an ACRES trainer based in a neighbouring county.