The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has said that backup PTO (power take-off) generators are available for grant aid under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3).

Minister Heydon advised that farmers may apply for generators under the Dairy Equipment Scheme (DES), Organic Investment Scheme (OCIS), Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS), and the Women Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS).

The minister added that there is no requirement for farmers to be milking cows in order to be eligible for a backup PTO generator.

According to Heydon, backup PTO generators are included as an investment item in the DES scheme.

The investment is open to all farmers who declare the minimum eligibility requirement of five hectares under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) scheme either in the year of the application or the year before.

Minister Heydon explained that generators are fixed investments under TAMS because, for safety reasons, it is necessary for an electrician to wire the generators into the electrical system and verify that a change-over switch is installed. 

The change-over switch prevents electricity provided by the generator from running through the incoming ESB power lines.

Last night, Sunday, February 9, 700 homes, farms, and businesses were still without power, as ESB Networks continues restoration work following Storm Éowyn over two weeks ago.

ESB Networks has restored power to over 767,000 homes, farms, schools, and businesses. The day after Storm Éowyn saw some 768,000 premises without power.

In response to the storm, the European Union sent 17 generators to Ireland following a request for assistance relating to power outages caused by storm damage.

EU Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality, Hadja Lahbib, said: “Extreme weather events, like Storm Éowyn, increasingly put Europe’s disaster resilience to the test. They also demonstrate the growing strength of our joint preparedness and solidarity efforts.”