The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) II was launched in June 2015. As we approach its two-year anniversary, there have been 11,669 applications made to the scheme.

The seventh tranche of TAMS II is currently open for applications and will remain open until 30 June 2017.

The eighth tranche of the scheme is expected to open directly after the seventh tranche closes.

Every tranche in the scheme has been opened for three months. When a tranche closes, all the applications are ranked and assessed together and when this process is complete, approvals to start work are issued to farmers.

The sixth tranche of the scheme closed last April, with a total of 1,089 applications submitted.

The time it takes from the point a tranche closes to farmers receiving approval to go ahead with works varies, but can take five to six months.

Therefore, going by past performance, farmers who made applications in the sixth tranche could expect to receive approval by the autumn.

Table one shows the number of applications made to date and the number of approvals issued. Approvals are starting to issue for tranche five of the scheme, which closed last January.

According to the Department, some farmers will not receive approval because there may be an issue with their application.

For example, farmers may not receive approval because the grant of full planning permission or exemption was not granted within the time frame, investments that were below the minimum cost per application (€2,000 excluding VAT) were applied for, applicants did not have the minimum land declared in the Basic Payment Scheme or minimum production units required for the scheme or perhaps all the required documentation was not provided in support of the application within the time frame required.

A total of 1,442 payment claims were made to the Department for completed works, but payments have only issued to 943 applicants amounting to €12m of grant aid.

A Department spokesperson said there are a small number of payment cases being processed, where some additional ICT functionality is required to deal with discrepancies, such as over-claims made by the farmer.

The spokesperson said this ICT work is close to completion and they are hopeful of resolving these outstanding cases soon.