There has been a slow down in the processing of applications the last couple of weeks under tranche 4 as the Department seemingly work their way through some of the more difficult applications. Five-hudred-and-eighty-five of the 5,864applications received, nearly exactly 10%, are currently still being processed by the Department.

Going by trends in the past, between 200-300 of these applications will be carried over and processed in the next number of months, with some applications from tranches 2 and 3 still being processed.

These applications generally relate to additional information being required by the Department, with applicants urged to review the correspondence portal in agfood on a regular basis and respond in a timely manner to speed up processing of applications.

The overall approval rate stands at 83.3%, with seven of the 10 sub schemes within TAMS being above this figure.

Yet again, the Solar Capital Investment Scheme has the lowest approval rate, with poor quality applications rumoured to be the major hold up in processing.

The rejection rate remains much the same as other tranches at 4.4%, with 2.2% of applications withdrawn.

Tranche 5 and emergency TAMS

Applicants who submitted their TAMS application under tranche 5 of the scheme prior to 6 December 2024 are still awaiting their application to be processed, though the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon did announce that all eligible applications under tranche 5 will be approved.

The expectation would be that these applications will begin to be looked at before the end of the month, but the closing of the emergency TAMS measures on 28 March could mean that approvals will be shelved until the processing of the emergency tranche is completed.

The Minister for Agriculture has already stated that he will ensure these applications ‘’are processed as a priority’’.

The items included in the emergency TAMS tranche include; backup PTO generators (includes petrol and diesel), sheep, bovine and equine fencing, wood/ biomass chippers and mulchers.

Applications submitted within the three-week window of this emergency TAMS that do include any of the above will be thrown out. Something that has been sought by many farmers in the past under TAMS is grant aid for re-roofing older buildings, and this now may be coming into fruition.

As part of the announcement on TAMS last week, the minister stated “to ensure farms are more resilient in advance of future weather events, I intend to introduce grant aid support under TAMS for replacement of roofs.

“The application process for this specific investment will be available later this year, when systems are developed.’’

One of the major limiting factors of this re-roofing grant could be the requirement for buildings being re-roofed to have planning permission.

The full details remain to be seen.