Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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589. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a suckler farmer who is in BISS and has cattle but is not in any other scheme can qualify for a grant for a generator under TAMS or any other scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5691/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Backup PTO generators are available for grant aid under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3). Farmers may apply for these generators under the Dairy Equipment Scheme (DES), Organic Capital Investment Scheme (OCIS), Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS) and Women Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS).

While backup PTO generators are included as an investment item in the DES scheme, the investment is open to all farmers who declare the minimum eligibility requirement of five hectares under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme in the year of application, or preceding year. There is no requirement to be milking cows to be eligible for backup PTO generators under the scheme.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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590. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the payments for ACRES 2024 given a number of farmers in Sligo and Leitrim have yet to receive any payment for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5695/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that a total of 42,128 of ACRES participants, representing just under 78% of active participating herds, have now received their 2024 advance payments, totalling €181.75m.

Almost 88% of Leitrim 2024 advance claims, and almost 86% of Sligo 2024 advance claims, have been paid. There are currently 293 herd owners in Leitrim and 301 herd owners in Sligo awaiting their 2024 ACRES advance payment.

There are several reasons for the delay in making payments to the remaining participants, with the main categories being:

• Contract and ownership / partnership cases.
• Issues with scorecards (incorrect score, scorecards not submitted, alignment of scorecards.)
• Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (BISS) errors.
• Alignment of ACRES contract details with the latest BISS information.