“We are seeing an unprecedented rise in inflation, meaning the price of building materials such as steel and timber has soared. The current costings, which were updated as far back as March 2021, are completely out of line with the price of materials today, making it impossible for farmers to begin their projects,” he said.
Michael Biggins said the Dept current system of revising costs is not working and is not able to cope with the pace of changes in the price of materials.
“The war in Ukraine has stretched supply chains to breaking point. Even the most recent revision last November is hopelessly out of date, and that isn’t available to farmers applying under this Tranche,” he said.
At a recent meeting with the Department of Agriculture, the Department confirmed to IFA that the revised reference costings prepared in November would be implemented for TAMS Tranche 26 which is due to open on April 9th. Events have overtaken that revision.
“Farmers are being forced to work with reference costs which are completely out of date. It means they won’t receive a rate of grant that is reflective of the actual cost of investment incurred.”
Michael Biggins called on the Minister of Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to:
- Ensure the TAMS reference costs for tranche 25 are retrospectively revised to reflect actual costs incurred;
- Revise costings again prior to the opening of tranche 26 on April 9th;
- Establish a system to review costings before the opening of each tranche while this high level of inflation continues.