Tranche 3 approvals approach half way point for TAMS

Over 45% of tranche 3 applications have now been approved by the Department of Agriculture, with 1,724 applications of the 3,799 submitted having received approval as of this week.

The scheme was open from 22 January 2024 and closed on 12 April, making it the shortest tranche so far in TAMS III, with the scheme having been shortened by two weeks with the extension of tranche 2 by Minister McConalogue.

Approval rates are varying between 0% and 52%, with an average approval rate of 45.4%. Surprisingly, no applications from LESS have been approved as of this week, though past tranches have shown that approval rates for less paper intensive investments can quickly be ramped up.

Popular schemes such as the Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme (FSCIS) and Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme (AWNSS), which recorded the highest and second highest application rates, with 54% of all applications under tranche 3 attributed to these schemes, have seen approval rates of 51.8% and 50% respectively.

The FSCIS also holds the highest rejection rate across the 10 schemes, with a rejection rate of 6.5%.

Earlier in the year, the Department highlighted the main reasons as to why approvals are rejected which include:

The Solar Capital Investment Scheme has seen a nine-fold increase in approvals over the past two weeks, with approval rates rising from 4.3% to 38.9%.

The Organic Capital Investment Scheme (OCIS) remains as the scheme with the highest approval rates so far at 60.9%%.

Tranche 1, 2 and 4

Some applications submitted under tranches 1 and 2 are still being processed by the Department.693 of the 9,110 applications (7.6%) submitted under tranche 2 are currently in progress while just 139 of the 8,203 applications (1.7%) submitted under tranche 1 await approval.

This is down 183 and 20 applications in tranches 2 and 1 respectively from two weeks prior.

Tranche 4 of TAMS III is currently open, with a scheduled closing date of Friday 6 September. Tranche 5 of the scheme is set to open on 10 September, with a planned closing date of Friday 6 December.