TAMS Criteria Too Strict & Should be Revised – IFA
IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche has criticised the Department of Agriculture’s refusal to recognise cash payments for equipment for the purposes of a TAMS grant and said that the decision was bureaucracy gone mad.
According to Teresa Roche it should not be difficult for the terms and conditions relating to the TAMS scheme to be modified.
Speaking about the refusal to recognise cash payments by the Department of Agriculture Teresa Roche stated:
“We are encouraging farmers to have safety equipment that will minimise the risk on their farms. For the Department of Agriculture to disallow the TAMS grant on the grounds that an electronic payment wasn’t made just doesn’t add up.”
Teresa Roche said the older cohort of farmers, for whom safety equipment such as a quad helmet is very important, is also the group that may not be set up to make electronic payments.
“The Minister may be quoting the terms and conditions here, but there has to be a reasonable approach to how schemes are administered. I would ask him to re-visit this and allow what would be a practical flexibility under the Farm Safety measure,”.
