The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has claimed that the announcement that all eligible tranche three Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS) 3 applications will be approved “counts for nothing” until formal approval letters issue to individual farmers.

Deputy president of the association Eamon Carroll stated that while the announcement from Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue was welcome, it will mean little for farmers unable to proceed with works until formal approval letters land.

Carroll labelled the delays to date with TAMS approvals as being “already ridiculous”, as they have held farmers up with getting with farm investments.

Reality

“The reality is that there are still applicants from tranche one who have yet to receive formal approval, despite the fact that their closing date was summer 2023, and we know of cases where applications have been submitted for over a year,” Carroll maintains.

The ICMSA representative said the delays are leaving reference costs out of tune with actual costs and hitting farmer confidence in investment, in areas where policy calls for investment, such as in boosting slurry storage capacity.

He also pointed out that farmers are required to respond promptly to Department of Agriculture queries on applications, while there is no timeframe or urgency set out on its own issuing of correspondence back to farmers.

'Double standard'

“The Department can take as long as they like to issue an approval, while, at the same time, writing to some farmers with a query telling them to respond within 20 days or their application will be rejected in full,” he continued, saying that this amounts to a “complete double standard”.

Carroll also accused Minister McConalogue of acting to “stall” work on concluding the Farmers Charter setting out Department requirements for dealing with farmers on schemes.

The charter is negotiated between the Department and farming organisations.

“How can the Minister stand over a system that has the Department giving the farmers 20 days, while they take as long as they like for themselves,” he asked.

“How can farmers have confidence to invest if the approval of their investments is delayed so long that the building price quotes contained are completely out of date? Or the nitrates regulations have changed in the time between the application and approval?”

The ICMSA deputy president called for an end-of-June deadline for the Department to issue farmers with the formal TAMS tranche three notifications which they need to commence works.

He added that response timeframes for the scheme’s four tranches scheduled to open next year “should be set in stone” by the Farmers Charter.