The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called on Revenue Commissioners to allow farmers to claim VAT back on diesel generators, following nationwide electricity issues from Storm Éowyn.

Chair of the farm business committee Pat O'Brien has also appealed to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to allow the generators to be covered by the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS 3).

The calls come as TAMS 3 tranche 6 applications opened last week, with the main investments available at the 60% grant rate including: manure pits; mass concrete tanks, including precast tanks; circular slurry stores; and geo-membrane lined stores.

As the country continues to deal with the fallout of Storm Éowyn, with approximately 15,000 homes, farms, and businesses still without power as of yesterday evening (Wednesday, February 5), O' Brien said that farmers have "helped each other out".

"As always in these emergencies, farmers have helped each other out by sharing generators over the last number of days to ensure vital work can continue on farms.

"But lessons must be learned from this occasion and ICMSA thinks that the inclusion of standalone diesel generators in TAMS and a facility to reclaim the VAT on all generators are just obvious and prudent measures that will address increasingly important questions around both farmer and animal welfare," O'Brien said.

"Given the frequency at which extreme weather events are taking place and the reliance of particularly dairy farms on electricity, it is vital that farmers can prepare for interruptions to supply and so avoid disastrous outcomes.

"A generator is fast becoming an essential piece of equipment on most farms and - as well as the farmer’s peace of mind -there is the freeing-up of the ESB network crews who could turn to other emergency work," O'Brien said.

The farm business committee chair also reminded farmers that PTO-driven generators cannot be bought before TAMS approval as they are classified as a "fixed item" at present.

He called on the new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to change this requirement and allow farmers to purchase equipment once the application has been submitted.