Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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A total of 889 applications were received from 770 farmers under the first two tranches of the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme, which opened in May last year. These applicants had a total land area of 93,617 hectares, with an average farm size of 122 hectares.

It should be noted that applicants are permitted to submit multiple applications under the scheme. For example, a tillage farmer could submit an application for a grain store and an application for minimum disturbance tillage equipment.

A further 216 applications were received in the third tranche of the scheme, which closed on 12 April 2024. The precise number of hectares covered by these applications will be available once an assessment of the applications is carried out.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) is a support Measure for farmers to incentivise the increase in the eligible tillage crop area in order to assist in reducing the dependency on imported feed material.

The Scheme is funded from a National Exchequer allocation to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine provided to offset some of the negative impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on food and input prices and availability. The scheme is implemented pursuant to the Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy following the aggression against Ukraine by Russia.

Under the 2023 Tillage Incentive Scheme, 2,862 farm entities received some €8,685 million in support of 27,081 hectares converted and maintained as tillage.

The average conversion rate to tillage was nine hectares per holding out of an overall average claimed area of 80 hectares.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Tillage Capital Investment Scheme is a measure under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3). As outlined in the terms and conditions of the scheme, eligible applicants must have a minimum area of 15 hectares of eligible crops declared under their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Payment Scheme, or equivalent, in the year of application, or previous year. The eligible crops are defined in the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme.

TAMS 3 is a demand-led scheme, with significant budgetary constraints. In order to ensure the most efficient allocation of resources under the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme, the Scheme is specifically targeted at farmers who have tillage as their main enterprise. The cost of extending the eligibility criteria as suggested in the question would be significant.

Just to put this into context, the total number of farms in Ireland with tillage crops less than 15 hectares amounts to slightly over 10,000 farms. Based on the current average grant aid in TAMS of €12,000, this would equate to an additional budget allocation of €120 million, assuming all 10,000 applied for grant aid under the Tillage Capital Investment Scheme. With this in mind, I have no plans to widen the eligibility criteria for the scheme at this time.