The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) has claimed to be aware of reports that factory agents are "being instructed not to buy lambs at marts".

Sean McNamara, the association's sheep chairperson, said today (Monday, May 31) that he was aware of allegations to that effect, saying that processors would be "playing with fire" if the allegations were true.

"[We] have been getting reports that agents around the country are under orders not to buy lambs at marts over the next week," McNamara claimed.

McNamara suggested that, if this was happening, one possible motive was to force farmers to take lambs out of the mart and go straight to the processors.

"With supplies remaining tight, it is quite possible that processors are doing this in an attempt to funnel lambs directly into the factories as cheaply as possible," he said.

According to the ICSA sheep chair, this situation would "leave producers in a much-wakened position, with no option but to accept what is on offer".

"Marts are so important when it comes to determining what is achievable for stock and interfering with that process [would be] unscrupulous," McNamara added.

He concluded by saying that the ICSA would continue to monitor the market situation over the coming week to see if any evidence of this emerges.