Some 2,829 full approvals have issued under TAMS II to date, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed has said.

Responding to a parliamentary question in the Dail recently from Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, the Minister said that it expected that the payment claim facility will be available in the coming weeks.

Last week, Minister Creed confirmed that 2,951 applications were received under the first tranche of TAMS, 2,210 under the second and 2,000 under the third.

Urgent approvals were sought in some cases and over 1,100 part- approvals in respect of dairy and low emission slurry spreading equipment issued earlier this year, he said.

Earlier this month, IFA Rural Development Committee Chairman Joe Brady acknowledged that progress is being made but that it needs to be speeded up for all 5,000 farmers who have applied for both tranche 1 and 2.

He has urged that priority files are dealt with as many farmers want to avail of the good building weather conditions so that investments are completed before next winter.

Brady also has called on the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to prioritise TAMS payments for those farmers who have completed their works following the part approvals issued at the end of 2015.

“The excuse that the Department IT system is not yet ready for farmers to apply online is not acceptable as it is six months since approvals were issued.

“Many farmers have credit arrangements involving bridging finance with their banks which will run out if the grant aid is not paid immediately.

“The problem has become more acute with the serious downturn in commodity prices and the consequent farm income problem on many farms,” he said.