Renewable Energy Generation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

I thank the Deputy. We will not let St. Brigid completely dominate today but while the people of Louth are proud that she was born in Faughart, I note she moved to Kildare pretty quickly and spent most of her life there. You cannot choose where you are born but you choose where you live.
The targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS 3, which is EU cofunded, provides grants to farmers to build and-or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. The solar capital investment scheme, SCIS, is one of the measures in TAMS which provides support to farmers wishing to invest in renewable energy, thereby reducing their dependence on fossil fuels. The objective of the scheme is to enable farmers to consume solar PV-generated electricity onsite to meet their farm electricity demand, including in respect of the dwelling house. In order to encourage the purchase of solar investments, the scheme is ring-fenced with its own investment ceiling of €90,000, and grant-aided at the enhanced rate of 60%. The SCIS has been hugely popular with farmers, with 5,529 applications received under the first ten tranches of the scheme. To date, a total of 3,167 approvals have issued, with payments of €22.9 million issuing to 1,232 applicants. Approvals continue to issue on a daily basis.
TAMS 3 operates in tranches, with generally four tranches per year. The timeline for approval of applications under TAMS 3, including those received under the SCIS, has been agreed with the relevant farm bodies and laid down in the farmers charter. The issuing of approvals following the selection of valid applications will take place within three months of ranking and selection of files under each tranche, and no later than six months following the closure of a tranche. Ranking and selection is the process whereby the overall cost of applications received in a particular tranche is assessed, taking into account the available budget. It is a regulatory requirement that ranking and selection must take place on all eligible applications. On average, all eligible TAMS 3 investments, including solar PV applications, where there are no issues with the application are processed within three months following the ranking and selection process. I believe the processing of applications using the current structure is the best way to ensure applicants receive timely approval to proceed with their investments.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29