Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 May 2026
123. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has the required resources in place in Mayo to process and approve TAMS 3 applications in a timely manner; to provide an explanation as to the reason delays in approvals are being experienced by many Mayo farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35783/26]
View answerTAMS 3 has proved to be extremely popular, with in excess of 63,700 applications submitted across the first eleven tranches of the scheme compared to 20,805 applications received over the same number of tranches in the 2014-2022 TAMS 2 scheme.
Despite the huge increase in applications, my Department has issued almost 47,000 approvals, allowing farmers to proceed with their investments. Payments of over €158 million have issued to TAMS 3 participants, and are continuing at a rate of up to €2 million per week.
A total of 3,678 applications have been received from County Mayo with 2,662 approvals issued to farmers allowing them to proceed with their investments. Approvals are continuing to issue on a daily basis, once checks have been completed to confirm the eligibility of the application.
The average processing time for the vast majority of TAMS 3 applications is in line with the agreed targets as set out in the Farmers' Charter. Approvals are issued within 3 months of ranking and selection of files under each tranche, and no longer than 6 months following the closure of a tranche.
Payment claims are approved within 2 months following the receipt of the claim for payment (including valid supporting documents) and the completion of investments in accordance with specifications. Payments are issued to 100% of cleared cases within 3 weeks of approval for payment, when it has been determined that the work has been completed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the scheme.
My Department will continue to process applications and payment claims in a timely manner to allow farmers sufficient time to plan and proceed with their proposed on-farm investments.
