Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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703. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made in establishing a verifiable framework for farmers to trade carbon credits; the way in which his Department is addressing the integration of carbon sequestration into existing agri-environmental schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37387/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Work is ongoing in developing a verifiable framework for carbon farming at both at EU and national level.

I welcome the recent carbon removals and carbon farming (CRCF) regulation (EU/2024/3012), creating the first EU-wide voluntary framework for certifying carbon removals and carbon farming across Europe. In addition, by 2026, the Commission will assess whether to expand the scope of carbon farming to include greenhouse gas emission reductions from livestock activities.

To implement the CRCF regulation and Carbon farming, the Commission is taking the following steps:

• Adoption of EU certification methodologies for different activities by 2025
• Adoption of third-party verification rules: The Commission will issue implementing acts to set technical rules for third-party verification requirements by 2026.
• Recognition of certification schemes: By 2030, the Commission will approve certification schemes able to apply CRCF rules through Decisions, following a comprehensive assessment of governance, rules, and procedures, typically granting recognition for five years.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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704. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current backlog of targeted agricultural modernisation scheme applications; the number of unprocessed applications; the average processing time, broken down by region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37388/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings.

More than 45,000 applications have been received across the first eight tranches of TAMS 3. This compares to 15,144 applications received over the same number of tranches in the 2014-2022 TAMS 2 scheme.

Of the 45,274 applications received, a total of 30,263 applications have received approval to proceed with their investments. There have been 892 applications withdrawn by applicants, while a total of 2,692 applications have been rejected due to ineligibility under the terms and conditions of the scheme.

Tranche 8 of TAMS 3 closed for applications on 6 June last, with a total of 5,364 applications received. Applications received across all of the measures in Tranche 8 are currently being processed. Once the initial HQ processing is completed, all applications will be subject to a ranking and selection process, which is a regulatory requirement for all TAMS 3 applications.

Approvals are then issued to eligible applicants in line with the Farmer's Charter agreement, within three months of ranking and selection and no longer than six months following the closure of a tranche.

Overall, the scheme has proved very popular, with an unprecedented level of applications received. My Department will continue to issue approvals in a timely manner to allow farmers sufficient time to proceed with their proposed on-farm investments.

The table below sets out the average processing time per county.