Despite the growing demand for cattle underpasses, particularly on dairy farms, they are to remain off the list of investments which are eligible for grant-aid under TAMS.

In response to a request from Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard to include them, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said it was not possible to add additional items to the list.

The Minister said this was due to the tight budgetary position.

Allocation

TAMS II will end at the end of 2020. Approximately €395m has been allocated to the capital investment scheme and to date total expenditure has reached €169m.

Minister Creed said 29,000 applications had been submitted and of those 22,000 had been approved to commence. Payment claims have been submitted for 11,500 projects and over 92% of those have been paid. The Minister said €1.5m continued to be paid out every week.

We must have a budget in place to pay these claims

“The position is that all outstanding approvals issued represent potential outstanding liabilities for my Department, and we must have a budget in place to pay these claims,” the Minister explained.

“Until these approvals mature to the payments stage or the time frame of the approval expires, a budgetary provision must be available to make payments in order to ensure the annual budget for TAMS can cover all potential outstanding liabilities.”

Due to the volume of applications, 20% of applications were rolled from tranche 13 at the beginning of the year into tranche 14. This was also oversubscribed and 20% have been rolled into tranche 15.

Disappointment

The Minister acknowledged the disappointment for some farmers who had been delayed as a result.

On underpasses, he recognised their importance on fragmented dairy farms where cows were required to cross busy roads. However, he pointed to existing TAMS supports for the dairy sector which accounted for the highest number of applications and financial payments.

Senator Lombard enquired whether underpasses could be included in future schemes. Discussions

Minister Creed said discussions were still ongoing as to what schemes will be considered in the next CAP.