The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has announced the opening of year three of the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) to new entrants.

The five-year, €100 million SIS provides financial support to farmers for taking extra steps to improve the welfare of their flock. 

Minister Heydon said the scheme demonstrates the continuing commitment of the government to the sheep sector.

"I am delighted to announce that applications for entry to year three of the SIS are now open to qualifying new entrants.

"This is the third year of the SIS, which builds on the progress made by the Sheep Welfare Scheme in the previous CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) the minister added.

The SIS is funded under Ireland's CAP strategic plan for 2023 to 2027.

The scheme has a budget allocation of €20 million per year over the course of the plan.

Farmers get €12 per breeding ewe per annum for completing flock welfare measures.

The application opening date is March 25, 2025. The closing date is on April 29, 2025.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has also approved almost 800 applications made by farmers under tranche 5 of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3).

TAMS provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holding.

The latest data published by the department shows that 795 (14%) of the 5,823 applications submitted for this tranche have been given the green light.

There are 4,757 applications still to be assessed, 200 have been rejected and 71 withdrawn from the scheme.

The latest data shows that 403 applications made under tranche 4 of TAMS are deemed to be still “in progress”. 5,051 out of 5,864 applications made under that round have secured approval.

There are also 43 cases outstanding in tranche 3. The department said that 3,388 of the 3,799 tranche 3 applications have been approved.