Teagasc and the Irish Farm Buildings Association will be hosting a series of seminars on farm buildings at locations across the country this month.

According to the organisers recent changes in the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), along with improved farm incomes, particularly in dairying, are "likely to lead to more investment in farm buildings".

Attendees will be informed of their responsibilities in relation to the appointment of project supervisors and the overall safety of farm construction.

The free events, all of which begin at 7:30p.m, are open to farmers and farm building contractors.

The following is a full list of the seminar dates and locations:

Wednesday, April 2: Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny;
Tuesday, April 8: Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork;
Wednesday, April 9: Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly;
Tuesday, April 15: Ardboyne Hotel, Navan, Co. Meath;
Wednesday, April 16: Kilmore Hotel, Co. Cavan.

Among the speakers at the seminars will be officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) who will discuss building specifications.

Ciaran Roche from FBD will speak about the responsibilities of the farmer in relation to safety for a building project.

Tom Fallon of Teagasc will outline improvements in the standard of farm buildings, TAMS and project management

At each venue, the organisers will also have a speaker from the building industry.

Separately, the department has confirmed that almost 800 applications made by farmers under tranche 5 of TAMS 3 have been approved.

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There are 4,757 tranche 5 applications still to be assessed, 200 have been rejected and 71 withdrawn from the scheme.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”.

A total of 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.

The department previously confirmed to Agriland that 4,931 farmers made applications under tranche 6 of TAMS 3.