2026-07-09

4. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whether he will consider introducing supports for farm buildings or agricultural buildings impacted by defective concrete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52560/26]

Will the Minister consider supporting farm agricultural buildings impacted by defective concrete? We are seeing a rise in the number of these buildings. Defective concrete has no discriminating factors. It is in tanks, slurry tanks and farm buildings. That is often overlooked as part of the defective concrete crisis. The impact on these buildings, particularly the environmental impacts on slurry tanks and cattle sheds, is disastrous for farmers. The crisis does not discriminate. We need a multi-departmental approach to this. It should not just be the Department of housing.

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this point. The targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, 3 is a key element of the current CAP strategic plan and provides grants to farmers to invest in their farm businesses through building and-or improving a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, which establishes rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by member states under the Common Agricultural Policy, stipulates that support measures must be linked to climate, environment and animal welfare and the economic sustainability of the agriculture sector is to be ensured. However, each member state is given the flexibility to decide on what measures and investments best support these objectives. Following wide consultation with stakeholders as part of the consultation process in advance of the submission of Ireland's current CAP strategic plan, a comprehensive list of investment items has been provided for under TAMS 3. However, support related to farm or agriculture buildings impacted by defective concrete was not included in the list of measures available in the TAMS 3 scheme. It is important to highlight that TAMS 3 has been extremely successful, with huge interest from farmers. My Department has issued almost 50,000 approvals, allowing farmers to proceed with their investments. Payments of over €172 million have already issued to farmers to support the investments they have made in their farm businesses. However, as TAMS 3 is a demand-led scheme with a defined allocated budget, the huge uptake to date has meant the application of ranking and selection approval of only a certain percentage of applications for certain measures in recent TAMS application tranches. This has had to be applied to manage the available budget for TAMS 3. As the current CAP strategic plan is at such an advanced stage - it ends in 2027 - it will not be possible to add new investment measures to the current programme. However, I will ensure that the list of investment items will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis and to inform consideration of any new investment support scheme which may be developed for the CAP post 2027. Like everything else, in terms of the discussion we have just had on the budget, the available budget will determine whether we will be able to have a TAMS or what a TAMS will look like the next time.

When we talk about defective concrete the national conversation quite rightly centres on family homes, but across rural Ireland the same materials were used in farm sheds, milking parlours, storage units, boundary walls and, critically, slurry tanks. They are not minor structures but central to functioning farms, animal welfare and environmental protection. The environmental impact is serious. There are failing slurry tanks, structural issues and environmental risks throughout the country. What makes the situation more difficult is that there are schemes for homes but there is absolutely nothing for farmers. Farmers are effectively left on their own and they are having a tremendously difficult time. The gap in policy is becoming more visible the more rural farmers are coming into this. They feel abandoned. What are we going to do to address this increasing gap?

Whether it is farmers with particular issues that are leading to environmental issues or issues with structures that need to be replaced, we are very lucky to have capital support in agriculture. I really believe in our TAMS structure. For me, the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme gets to the heart of generation renewal and hits the issues of climate, environment and animal welfare. The scheme is demand-led and entirely voluntary for farmers but the measures provide grants for capital investment in physical assets to assist the Irish agriculture sector to respond to a range of policy challenges and measures. Grant aid is available for qualified applicants. There are 11 different headings for TAMS. This is what exists at the minute. As I said, the scheme is greatly oversubscribed and there is massive demand for it. It has been secured for the period from 2023 to 2027, with €370 million available under 11 different headings - I will not list them as time is up - under which capital investment can be made on farms. This is available to all farmers, including farmers in Donegal.

During the Celtic tiger construction boom, Ireland experienced unprecedented building activity. Rural development schemes, farm modernisation grants and many co-funded EU agricultural and rural development programmes supported investment in farm infrastructure. The funding itself was legitimate and well-intentioned but the materials used in these construction projects on farms were defective concrete materials. We are talking about thousands of buildings potentially affected. What is clear is that the State is now facing long-term liability for construction decisions made during this period of weak regulation and no oversight. Rapidly developing issues are constantly coming forward. Will the Minister ask the Minister for housing to include agricultural buildings in the remediation scheme? Are any EU grants available to remediate these buildings?

The answer to the second question is that I am not aware of them, if they do exist. I am happy to talk to the Minister for housing, who regularly brings updates on the defective blocks scheme to Cabinet. The Government is using billions of euro of taxpayers’ money to support the very people the Deputy is talking about in terms of their family homes and the awful blight that has happened to people because of defective blocks. While the issue first arose in Donegal, Mayo and the wider west, we are now seeing memos come to Cabinet about Carlow, Meath and places like that, and the challenge this has caused for people's homes. As I said, I am happy to discuss this with Deputy Browne, as the Minister with responsibility in that area, and on the construction side of things. From my perspective, I stand here as the Minister for agriculture and our Department is investing very heavily in supporting farmers to improve, enhance and invest in capital infrastructure for a variety of very good reasons, from farm safety to supporting farmers. Obviously, that will also aid and impact the climate and environment and future-proof our farms.