Oireachtas agri committee meets to discuss TAMS
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food will meet today (Wednesday, March 18) to discuss Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).
Speaking ahead of the meeting, committee chair and TD for Cork North West, Aindrias Moynihan, senators and TDs will hear from the officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
According to Deputy Moynihan, the committee is keen to discuss TAMS 3 - which provides grants to farmers to build and improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings.
He said: "These schemes were introduced with the aim of enhancing competitiveness, increased efficiency and the promotion of environmental sustainability.
"Some of the topics that we will look for more detail on from those attending are how the schemes cover various investments such as farm buildings, equipment and environmental improvements.
"We will look for in-depth information on how applicants receive grants to support their investments, helping them modernise and improve their farms for the benefit of all involved".
TAMS
According to latest published figures (Friday, March 13), the total number of application approvals issued under the current TAMS since it commenced in 2023 has now passed 43,000.
The latest figures highlighted that 43,004 approvals had issued to date under the scheme up to Friday, March 13.
Of these approvals, 18,533 have resulted in payment claims being submitted, with 15,626 separate payments made for relevant on-farm investments covered by TAMS.
These payments amounted to a total of just over €142 million paid out through the scheme to date since the current TAMS programme got underway.
Separately, an estimated 2,832 applications made under tranche 9 of TAMS 3 are still to be processed.
Latest DAFM data from last week (March 11) showed that 2,543 (45%) of 5,716 applications in this tranche have been approved.
The department initially received 6,122 applications under tranche 9.
Some 215 applications have been rejected by department officials, while a further 126 have been withdrawn.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon previously confirmed that ranking and selection will be applied to applications made under this round of the scheme.
