A review of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) reference costs for the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) is planned to take place in the coming months.
The move was confirmed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill.
Deputy Cahill, who is also chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, asked about the methodology used to establish the reference costs used for the scheme.
TAMS
Minister McConalogue said that reference costs for TAMS 3 were increased “as appropriate” across all schemes, based on a review carried out between late 2022 and early 2023.
“The reference costs are updated periodically to ensure that they reflect actual/market costs for the construction of farm buildings and facilities, and for farm equipment.
“To achieve this objective, the review of the reference costs is based on a comparison with receipted costs.
“For an effective comparison, an adequate number of receipted claims are required.
“A further review of the reference costs is envisaged in the second half of this year, with a publication of the revised costs likely in mid-2025,” he said.
Reference costs
Farming organisations have repeatedly called for a review of the TAMS reference costs to account for increased costs of materials.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Rural Development chair, John Curran previously said that the current reference costs are “very much out of kilter with prevailing costs of materials”.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) also said that some farmers are “no longer even considering TAMS” due to the costings.
Pat O’Brien, the association’s Farm Business Committee chair, said that the costings have been “obsolete and demonstrably out of step with real costs for the last five years”.
He added that due to concrete inflation and the mica levy the reference costs have been “pushed into a fantasy land that has them completely detached from any semblance of reality”.