There "isn't any capacity" in the current Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) budget to get back to 100% approval for applications according to a senior official in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Paul Savage, Assistant Secretary General in DAFM today (Wednesday, March 18) told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food, that the department has to "stick within the budgetary guidelines that are set out for us".

"We have to have stay within the budgetary parameters that are set for the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) strategic plan," Savage told TDs and senators on the committee today.

The Oireachtas committee had met to discuss TAMS 3 which Savage described as a "hugely successful scheme" which this year has an allocated budget of €88 million.

According to the DAFM ASG the department's "administrative capacity was very severely challenged"initially in relation to getting TAMS up and running, then getting approvals out and then getting payments out on time.

But he told the Oireachtas committee that these initial delays were overcome and the scheme has been operating at "full capacity" for some time.

In his opening statement Savage said: "It is notable that some 59,302 applications were received across the first tentranches, compared to 19,347 applications received over the equivalent period under TAMS 2 - a three-fold increase.

"Nevertheless - and thanks to the fantastic efforts of a very dedicated team of staff - rapid progress has been made in the processing of applications, with the result over 52,000 applications have now been processed at both HQ and local office levels, and that payments to the value of €142 million have issued to almost 16,000 participants, and are continuing to issue at a rate of up to €2 million per week".

The DAFM ASG also outlined the "profile of the investment support already approved under TAMS 3 to date".

He said there had been a significant proportion of approved investments in particular for the Low Emissions Slurry Spreading, Solar Capital Investment and Nutrient Storage Investment schemes.

TAMS

But Savage also told TDs and senator that because all eligible applications were approved over the first eight tranches of the scheme the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon "considered it necessary to introduce ranking and selection for Tranche 9 - which closed for applications inSeptember 2025 - and again for Tranche 10, which closed for applications in December 2025.

"This was done in the interests of ensuring that the overall TAMS budget will not be exceeded, while continuing to facilitate further tranches to the end of 2027," he added.

The DAFM ASG also explained to the committee that "ranking and selection is the process of ranking each application in each tranche using pre-defined criteria" - which are set out on DAFM's website.

The chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food, TD for Cork North West, Aindrias Moynihan, asked the senior DAFM official how the department "is going to get back to 100%" of grant approval in relation to TAMS.

Deputy Moynihan asked "what is the plan to get back to everybody being able to get granted?".

In response Savage said: "At the moment there isn't any capacity within the available budget for everybody to get back to 100% approval".

Deputy Moynihan then asked the senior DAFM official if there was "a plan to get to that stage?"

Savage said: "There isn't a plan to get to that stage. We'll have to manage the budget as we do on an ongoing basis year on year, and again, depending on the number of applications that comes in.

"I think experience has shown that that numbers of applications tend to fall off, maybe a little later in the process towards the end of the TAMS period".

Deputy Moynihan said the committee would like to see a situation situation that when farmers make an application and prepare the work that they would have a "reasonable expectation" to be able to get a 100% grant.

According to Savage that boils down to the required funding being available on an ongoing basis, year on year for the number of applications that are received.