Tipperary farming: rise in construction costs cutting real level of TAMS grants

The fact that the budget was sufficient to approve all TAMS tranche 21 applicants has been welcomed by ICMSA farm and rural affairs chair Denis Drennan.

However, he said that the reference costs used to determine a grant must be updated immediately to reflect the substantial rise in construction costs

“Obviously we’ve been speaking to farmers across the country and, across every county, construction costs have increased by unprecedented levels in the last year,” he said.

He said that the result was that a farmer expecting a 40% grant will end up getting a substantially reduced grant rate as a result of increased construction costs and the failure of the Department to update reference costs.

“The Minister is going to have to revise the reference costs immediately and, in the interests of fairness, we think that the revised reference costs should apply to all investments under TAMS completed in 2021,” he said.

He said that the construction increases were of double digit size and were putting unexpected and insurmountable financial strains on farmers trying to complete investments.

“If we’re going to grant-aid the construction then the grants must be based on a current and realistic costs,” said Mr Drennan.