A farmer from Clare is calling for marts to reopen, saying he has been unable to sell his 30 animals and is facing severe financial pressure. At the age of 68, he is ineligible to receive the pandemic support worth €350/week.
A farmer from Clare is calling for marts to reopen, saying he has been unable to sell his 30 animals and is facing severe financial pressure.
At the age of 68, he is ineligible to receive the pandemic support worth €350/week.
Currently, he receives a weekly pension of less than €100/week and is struggling to pay bills without the boost to his income he was expecting to get from selling his cattle.
The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is only available to people who are between 18 and 66 and, in addition, farmers only qualify for the payment if they can prove they can take up some other form of full-time employment outside of farming.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told this newspaper that more pressure was needed from farm organisations and the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to reopen marts.
”I put a lot of work into the cattle over the winter period and I’d like to get the value for them
.
“I have been unable to sell my 25 weanlings and my five cull cows due to Clare Marts closure. Therefore, my cashflow is gone,” the farmer said.
“I don’t think that people who are just shooting the breeze should be left back in to marts, but there needs to be some kind of system where buyers and sellers can return to the marts in a safe way.”
Online sales
While the farmer acknowledged that there were online sales and matchmaking services with buyers available, he said he felt that he’d get a better price in a mart. “You get the price on the day and get the value of your animals because of competition around the ring.”
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