Agriculture Schemes

Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Ceisteanna (218)

Paul Lawless

Ceist:

218. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of solar PV applications received, deemed eligible, and approved under each TAMS 3 tranche to date; the total funding allocated for solar PV under TAMS 3; the total funding actually drawn down; and whether his Department has assessed the cost-effectiveness of increasing the approval rate given the high level of unmet farmer demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4651/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) is a demand-led scheme with a defined budgetary allocation. TAMS 3 has been hugely popular to date, with 5,529 applications received under the Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS), which is one of eleven schemes under the suite of TAMS schemes. To date, a total of 3,149 approvals have issued under the SCIS, with payments of €22.9 million issuing to 1,232 applicants.

An overall allocation of €88 million has been provided for TAMS 3 for 2026. It is not possible to allocate a budget to each of the eleven schemes individually.

SCIS Applications by Tranche
TRANCHE	STATUS	SCIS
Tranche 01	Applications Received	751
Tranche 01	Approvals Issued	666
Tranche 02	Applications Received	738
Tranche 02	Approvals Issued	644
Tranche 03	Applications Received	326
Tranche 03	Approvals Issued	294
Tranche 04	Applications Received	645
Tranche 04	Approvals Issued	580
Tranche 05	Applications Received	513
Tranche 05	Approvals Issued	445
Tranche 06	Applications Received	307
Tranche 06	Approvals Issued	232
Tranche 07	Emergency Tranche*	0
Tranche 08	Applications Received	455
Tranche 08	Approvals Issued	287
Tranche 09	Applications Received	899

* SCIS investments were not included in the emergency tranche 07, responding to Storm Éowyn.

The number of applications and the level of funding provided to date under 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 the SCIS alone.

In order to ensure that the available budget is distributed fairly over the remainder of the CSP, it was necessary to limit the number of approved applications in tranche nine by applying ranking and selection criteria, and this will also be considered for future tranches. On that basis, a decision was made to focus on approvals for core on-farm investments such as farm safety and nutrient storage.

Question No. 219 answered with Question No. 211.