Farmers who are approaching the 40 years maximum age limit of the TAMS II Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme can apply now and obtain their planning permission later.

The Department of Agriculture agreed to this flexibility after a meeting with the IFA last week on the new scheme. It agreed that such applicants be given a window of 14 weeks from applying in which to obtain permission.

The same flexibility is also available to farmers who are close to being actively involved in farming for a maximum of five years. They can apply now, while still under this threshold, and then obtain planning.

ADVERTISEMENT

Planning permission is required for many of the eligible investment items in the scheme, including animal housing, roofing over yards, manure pits, effluent tanks, lined lagoons, handling units and pens, milking parlours and dairies.

In the case of other farmers, the scheme’s online application process will continue to require that planning permission is obtained before the application is made for grant aid.

Meanwhile, the Department is considering making additions to the list of eligible investment items by including items such as silage slabs, silage pit walls and sheep fencing.

Welcoming the announcement, the IFA’s rural development chair Flor McCarthy said that some farmers who were eligible could have become ineligible while waiting for planning permission, but the 14 weeks of additional time should allow them obtain planning.

He called on the Department to open all other TAMS schemes immediately.

Chair of the ICMSA’s Farm and Rural Affairs Committee Patrick Rohan has said that the remaining TAMS II schemes must be opened as a matter of urgency and has called on Minister Coveney to immediately confirm opening dates.

Rohan said: “We are fast approaching the 1 July deadline but farmers are still unable to apply for schemes such as the Dairy Equipment Scheme and the Animal Welfare Safety and Farm Nutrient Storage Scheme.”