IFA Meet Ministers on Planning Exemptions
An IFA delegation met with Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister for State at the Department of Housing with special responsibility for planning John Cummins in Leinster House yesterday on the promised planning exemption for stand-alone nutrient management storage.
The delegation included IFA Dairy Chair Martin McElearney and Environment Management Committee member Liam Delaney.
Speaking after the meeting, Martin McElearney said “this exemption which was announced last August is a long way from being put in place which is very frustrating for farmers who want to build storage facilities on their farm”.
“The only commitment that the Ministers could give us was that they expected the exemption to be in place to coincide with Tranche 9 of TAMS which is due to open on September 6th and close on December 5th,” he said.
“This delay means that farmers who want to apply for TAMS now or begin their work this summer will not be able to avail of any planning exemption.”
IFA made it clear to the Ministers that they need to find a way to speed up the implementation and to build in the inflationary impact on building costs in the revised reference costs. Both of these are needed immediately.
In reality, it means that the exemption will have no effect in 2025 as it will be 2026 before farmers will be able to have both the planning exemption and TAMS approval to commence work.
IFA Environment Committee rep Liam Delaney said with a Cabinet Committee set up to focus on water quality, this is one action the Government could implement to make a real difference and help to further support the retention of our Nitrates derogation.
“More storage capacity would give farmers more flexibility on when to apply their nutrients to ensure maximum uptake by growing grass,” Liam Delaney said.
“It must be an absolute priority for the Government to get this exemption in place and ensure TAMS approvals are accelerated to allow works to commence,” he concluded.
