Marts pushing for May 5 easing of restrictions

NEW proposals that would allow marts to operate more freely have been submitted for approval to the HSE.

Last week, Mart Managers of Ireland (MMI) issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to the Department of Agriculture, which would allow them to operate more freely than the current measures permit.

The Department then submitted the measures to the HSE.

MMI head Eimear McGuinness said the new SOP, if accepted, would see the mart return to more sustainable operating level.

“Come May 5 we hope the restrictions will be changed. We put forward a case to the Department of how we would operate a sale while keeping everybody a safe distance from each other,” she said.

“We aim to have limited number of buyers in the ring at any one time and there’ll be no sellers on site.”

The previous rules they’ve been working with didn’t really work, she said, because marts couldn’t hold an auction.

“We were also letting buyers into the yard one at a time to view the cattle and this took far too long and there were too many people congregating in the yard. So we learned a lot,” she explained.

“We’re going to put steps in place that won’t allow that to happen again. We’ll let 10-12 buyers into the ring to view cattle at different times and then they’ll be given a spot to stand in which they won’t be allowed to move from.”

The new operating procedures include:

only buyers permitted on mart premises;

no under-16s or over-70s permitted;

staff over 70 or with underlying health issues will not be expected to work;

Sellers who have pre-booked stock with the mart arrive at specified times from 8am.

Meanwhile, marts in Northern Ireland are set to reopen on a phased basis from April 27, with some restrictions in place, having closed voluntarily on March 23.

Recently, mart operators trialled some online sales to enable livestock trading to continue .

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said the decision to reopen the marts will help provide much-needed cash-flow for farmers.

‘We put forward a case to the Department of how we would operate a sale while keeping everybody a safe distance from each other’