The Department has clarified recent changes which were made in relation to deposits made on equipment through the scheme.

The change affects the eligibility of deposits paid between the date of submission of an application and the date of approval and the processing of ineligible expenditure, or work commenced before approval.

The new ruling means that deposits/expenditure paid on or after the date of submission of an application are considered eligible expenditure. Any expenditure or investment work started before the date of submission of an application remains ineligible.

There is no change to the fact that installation or construction of an investment cannot commence until written approval has been issued to the applicant. Any sub-investment that has been installed or where work has commenced prior to approval will be rejected from the application.

Difficulty has been encountered when it came to sourcing and buying equipment within the shorter time frame for the completion of TAMS II works, particularly in relation to equipment which must be purchased and a payment claim submitted within six months of approval. Issues had also arose when it came to having to place deposits on milking machine equipment and dairy bulk tanks.

Penalties

This change to the terms and conditions of the scheme will be applied retrospectively and the cases where this penalty has been applied will be reviewed and, where appropriate, paid by the Department. This will affect a total of 10 farmers, with total penalties of approximately €12,000.

TAMS II is currently in its ninth tranche, which is due to close on Friday 23 February. The 10th tranche of the scheme will open on 24 February and run until 18 May 2018.

Deadline to cut and burn

Farmers only have one week left to carry out any hedge trimming before the 1 March deadline. This also applies to farmers wishing to carry out any cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction by other means of vegetation growing on uncultivated land or in hedges or ditches. The hedge should be side-trimmed and cut into a triangular shape.