The three-week window in March for emergency TAMS measures that was implemented by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has proven extremely popular – 1,945 individual applications were submitted – with farmers who had applied for relevant items in tranche 6 (fencing, generators, etc) that were covered in the emergency TAMS, able to defer their application to the new emergency TAMS, with priority to be applied to getting these applications processed ahead of tranche 6.

In the 1,945 applications submitted, 2,287 items were applied for. The Dairy Equipment Scheme saw the highest volume of applications, with 982 submitted for PTO driven generators. The total number of generators applied for across the tranche amounted to 1,217, accounting for 53% of all applications.

At the time of it’s launch, the minister granted permission for diesel and petrol generators to be eligible at the same reference cost as PTO generators.

However, analysis by the Irish Farmers Journal showed the disparity between costs of PTO generators and petrol/diesel generators, with the net result being that a 40% grant rate would only equate to a 11-13% grant for petrol/diesel generators.

Woodchippers were the second most popular item in lieu of storm damage, with 363 applications submitted, accounting for 15% of applications.

A total of 184 ground mulchers, made up of a mix of trailed and mounted ones, were also applied for, while the remaining 523 applications consisted of a mixture of bovine electric fencing (including solar fencing units), gateways, equine fencing and sheep fencing, both hill and lowland.

Approvals

Some consultants have contacted the Irish Farmers Journal recently to highlight the slow processing of applications under the scheme.

Table 1 shows the approvals issued as of Friday 20 June, as provided by the Department of Agriculture. The Emergency tranche closed for applications on 28 March, and within a 12-week window, 423 of the 1,945 applications submitted have been approved, representing just 22% of applications.

Tranche 6 and WFCIS

The Department has also published the number of applications submitted under tranche 6, which ran between 27 January and 6 March 2025. Despite it being the shortest tranche to date, 4,930 applications were made in the five-week window, following on from 5,822 applications made in tranche 5 and 5,864 applications made in tranche 4.

In recent weeks, the minister announced that all eligible applications for tranche 6, 7 and 8 would be approved, though going forward ranking and selection may have to be implemented.

Under tranche 5, 559 applications are still awaiting approval, while it will likely be after all applications under tranche 7 (emergency tranche) are dealt with that we will see a rollout of tranche 6 approvals.

One of the new schemes added to TAMS III was the Women Farmer Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS), with Table 3 showing the top five items that were applied for under the scheme.

Herd health and fertility monitoring, calf rearing equipment and pasture management all featured across both years, accounting for 143, 131 and 131 applications respectively.