Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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1697. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 589 of 1 April 2025, if he will introduce a scheme now given farmers can not wait until later on in the year to put roofs on their sheds; if he will accept the urgency in regard to this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19191/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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To ensure that farms are more resilient in advance of future weather events, I announced plans to introduce grant aid support under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) for replacement of roofs. The application process for this specific investment will be available later this year, when systems are developed. In the meantime, I would urge farmers to carry out a structural assessment of their farm buildings.

Where buildings have been significantly damaged it may be more economic to replace the entire structure, rather than attempting to repair the damaged building. In such cases, it is open to farmers to apply for support for the construction of new buildings under TAMS. This support is open to all farmers who hold a Department identifier and have a minimum of five hectares declared under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS).

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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1698. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there will be any further tranches or an intermediary successor to ACRES between now and the new CAP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19234/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There are currently just over 54,200 active participants in ACRES, which considerably exceeds the initial target number of 50,000 farmers, in respect of whom total funding of €1.5 billion has been allocated under Ireland’s 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan (CSP)

As regards a transitional successor to ACRES, any new intervention under the CSP would require additional national funding to be made available, following sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, as appropriate. It would also require an amendment to Ireland’s CSP - subject to the opinion of the CSP Monitoring Committee - and the approval of the European Commission.