Bidders must be allowed back to ringsides in marts nationwide as connectivity issues exclude thousands of farmers from the online sales process, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has said.

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham said the Level 5 shutdown of in-person sales proved disastrous at the weekend when one of the main online bidding systems collapsed.

“ICSA has repeatedly pointed out that many marts and their customers have problems with reliable broadband,” Graham said.

Suggestions that marts should not rely on one auction platform were not practical Graham said as it ignored the reality that marts operated on tight margins. These margins did not allow for the luxury of a back-up system with installation the biggest cost.

Broadband

“In any event, thousands of farmers and agents are now effectively excluded from the livestock auction process because they don’t have the broadband and in some cases, the IT capabilities,” he pointed out.

“The Minister cannot allow the complete disruption of mart trading at the most critical time of year. Farmers desperately need to trade stock at present to keep their farming systems viable.”

Graham said it was critical that marts were fully functional to ensure fair competition for stock. Many farmers were also beginning to question why factories were being treated more favourable than marts, he said.

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Suggestions that marts should not rely on one auction platform were not practical ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has said.