Letters of offer have been issued to 1,200 successful applicants in the second tranche of the Tier 1 capital grant scheme, a DAERA spokesperson has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal.

The second tranche of the Tier 1 element of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme is again set to be oversubscribed with DAERA receiving 2,996 applications in February.

The DAERA spokesperson said this week that there are still more letters of offer to be issued in this tranche of the scheme. “The Department will continue to issue letters of offer until the available budget is fully utilised,” the spokesperson said.

There is £7.5m available in the second tranche of Tier 1 for up to 40% grant funding of equipment and machinery costing between £5,000 and £30,000.

The same level of funding was available in the first tranche of the scheme and funded around 1,500 applications.

The minimum points-based selection criteria score needed to be successful in the second tranche will not be known until all funding has been allocated to the top-ranking applicants.

“Unsuccessful applicants will be notified when the process of issuing letters of offer has concluded,” the DAERA spokesperson said.