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Raphoe Mart has decided to delayed its reopening after Christmas by up to a week due to rising COVID-19 case numbers in the local area.
The Co Donegal mart announced that in the interest of the health and safety of its staff and customers, there would be no sales in the coming week.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Raphoe Mart manager Ann Harkin said the decision was taken out of an abundance of caution.
Caution
“Case numbers are very high in the area and we’re wary that so soon after Christmas, mixing between staff and farmers dropping their animals for sale wouldn’t be sensible.”
All mart sales will be online-only for the duration of the Level 5 restrictions. There will also be an additional focus placed on preventing customers gathering in mart car parks.
Despite the tightened restrictions, Harkin felt the delayed opening was still the safest course of action.
“We’ll review the decision again in the middle of the week and see then but for now it’s too soon to say. Thankfully there’s been no cases linked to marts and we’d like to keep it that way.
“Our staff have been excellent and did everything that was asked of them last year. We’re very conscious that the local health service is under pressure and we have an older customer base.”
Support
The mart had been due to hold a sale on Monday 4 January but Harkin said there hadn’t been huge interest. The decision to postpone was announced on Friday evening 1 January and messages of support had been received from farmers since, she said.
In the 14 days to 28 December, 121 COVID-19 cases were reported in the Lifford-Stranorlar local election area (LEA), in which Raphoe Mart is situated. This puts the incidence rate per 100,000 population at almost twice the national average.
In the neighbouring Letterkenny LEA, 157 cases were reported.
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