Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 January 2026
232. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the basis on which funding ceilings for TAMS 3 solar PV were set; whether he will consider revising the allocation given the strong climate-mitigation case for expanding solar PV uptake on farms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5476/26]
View answerThe Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) is a demand-led scheme with a defined budgetary allocation. TAMS 3 has been hugely successful to date, with payments of over €121 million issuing to farmers since payments commenced in June 2023. Over the first eight tranches of the scheme, more than 45,000 applications were received, which is almost three times the number received over the corresponding eight tranches in TAMS II. All eligible applications received across those eight tranches have been approved, with the result that more than 40,000 approvals have issued to farmers to date, allowing them to proceed with their investments.
The number of applications and the level of funding provided to date under certain schemes, such as the Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS) have well exceeded expectations, to the extent that more than 20% of the TAMS budget is being spent on SCIS alone. To date, a total of 3,149 SCIS applications have received approval, with €22.9 million in payments issuing to 1,232 applicants.
In order to ensure that the available budget is distributed fairly over the remainder of the CAP Strategic Plan, it was necessary to limit the number of approved applications from the most recent tranche by applying ranking and selection criteria, and this will also be considered under future tranches.
The budgetary allocation for TAMS 3 is spread over all schemes and it is not possible to allocate a budget to each of the eleven schemes individually. On that basis, a decision was made to focus on approvals for core on-farm investments such as farm safety and nutrient storage, acknowledging the huge importance of continued investment in these measures.
