The TAMS II approval fiasco rumbles on again this week with no confirmed date when approvals will be issued. Farmers are now at boiling point waiting for the go-ahead from the Department to carry out urgent building work.

The Irish Farmers Journal has been given numerous broken promises from the Department regarding the time frame of approvals over a period of months.

The same line has been spun out from the Department again and again – “approvals will issue in the next few weeks”.

This completely disregards the farmer who has met all the deadlines and jumped through all the hoops to make an application for the scheme as far back as last year.

The most recent update from the Department is: “The approval process has commenced this week. As there are a number of applications at the same stage it will take a period of time for the technical aspects of the applications to be examined but the Department is utilising all resources at its disposal to ensure that as many applications are processed as speedily as possible.”

The IFA rural development chair Joe Brady said that promises of priority approval to be given to urgent cases have so far not been delivered, based on the feedback IFA has received on cases that were put forward.

These cases include farmers who have to put in silage slabs, specialised poultry operations and animal housing, as well as other vital farm investments.

The Department is now saying all applications will be given the same priority. In terms of sheep fencing investment items covered in the scheme, the Department said: “The sheep fencing element will be included in the current schemes in the coming weeks. There is no date finalised for the launch of the new tillage scheme as formal approval is awaited from the Commission.”

Payment for completed works are also likely to cause concern as the Department says IT development work is ongoing on the new payments facility which they say will enable applicants to submit their payment claims online. “Payments will issue in the second half of the year,” said the Department.