Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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876. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider implementing a scheme to provide financial assistance to support farmers in purchasing back-up electricity generators to assist them during future severe weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2948/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Backup PTO generators are available for grant aid under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3). Farmers may apply for these generators under the Dairy Equipment Scheme (DES), Organic Capital Investment Scheme (OCIS), Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS) and Women Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS).

While backup PTO generators are included as an investment item in the DES scheme, the investment is open to all farmers who declare the minimum eligibility requirement of five hectares under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme in the year of application, or preceding year. There is no requirement to be milking cows to be eligible for backup PTO generators under the scheme.

These generators are fixed investments under TAMS because, for safety reasons, it is necessary for an electrician to wire the generators into the electrical system and verify that a change-over switch is installed. The change-over switch is of paramount importance as it prevents electricity provided by the generator from running through the incoming ESB power lines.