Sinn Féin spokesperson for Agriculture, Claire Kerrane TD, has called on Minister McConalogue and his Department to ‘pick up the pace’ on issuing approvals to applicants under tranche 1 of TAMS III.

Data from the Department confirmed that half of the 8,203 applications made under tranche 1 of TAMS III have been approved. Approximately 3,500 applications are currently ‘in progress’.

Speaking today, Teachta Kerrane said:

“While approvals for schemes under tranche 1 of TAMS III are ongoing and that is welcome, there are still thousands of Farmers awaiting an update on their applications.

“Approvals started issuing more than two months ago and only half of applications have been approved so far.

“The delay is something that has been raised with me by Farmers and representative organisations, and was flagged again during the Joint Oireachtas Agriculture Committee meeting last week.

“I realise there is a significant amount of work in this for the Department, but Farmers do need to know if they have been approved for relevant schemes under tranche 1.

“Some schemes have significant numbers outstanding. For example, for the Animal Welfare Nutrient Storage Scheme, of the 2,494 applications submitted 1466 are still in progress.

“There are also delays to approvals for those schemes which are aimed at supporting groups into farming. These supports are important for encouraging Women Farmers and Young Farmers.

“I have already raised concerns around the Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS), and of the 259 applications submitted just 29 have been approved as of last week – with 210 still in progress.

“Similarly, there were 441 applications to the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS) and 240 of these are still outstanding.

“The Department now needs to pick up the pace on processing applications to these important schemes under TAMS and to issue outstanding approvals as soon as possible.”