Mountrath Mart is set to reopen this July after five years of closure.

Initial plans were for the mart to reopen this week. However, following a few setbacks with wiring and scales calibration, the committee decided to hold off until the end of July.

Chair of the mart committee Ken Holmes told the Irish Farmers Journal that a big community effort will be needed in order to get the mart back up and running.

Holmes said that the mart could have 300 to 400 shareholders in total, who will be looked on to aid the reopening.

"We need the support from locals, but also shareholders. We will need office staff, yard staff and canteen staff to get up and running.

"In relation to paying an auctioneer, I'm not sure what way we will work it yet. A few calls will have to be made over the coming months.

Ready

"We said that there was no point opening until the end of July, then you'd have cattle coming in off grass and you'd be ready for the weanling sales in September," he said.

The co-operatively owned mart closed at the end of 2018 after 51 years of trading, holding cattle sales on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

At the time, mart management had cited rising operating costs and a downturn in the number of cattle passing through the ring as being among the reasons for closing up.

Efforts have been ongoing since 2019 to reopen the mart and have ramped up since the start of this year.