Farmers who say they are still owed money following the closure of Castleblayney Mart five years ago have voiced their anger and disappointment at a meeting in Co. Monaghan.
The meeting held last Thursday night (March 23) by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) at the Glencarn Hotel in Castleblayney was jointly chaired by IFA Ulster/north Leinster Regional chair Frank Brady and Monaghan IFA chair, Patrick McCormick.
The farmers who attended the meeting had all sold livestock at Castleblayney Mart and are still awaiting payment.
It is estimated that over 60 farmers could be owed up to €250,000.
Castleblayney Mart
Castleblaney Mart was established in 1963 by Edward Paul Nugent and held regular sales of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, with machinery auctions held periodically.
In March 2018, it emerged that the company had run into difficulties and sales scheduled to take place towards the end of that month at the mart were cancelled. The following month, a liquidator was appointed.
It later emerged that the auctioneering licence held by Edward Paul Nugent – the company that operated the mart – had expired in February 2017.
Paul McCormack of McCormack and Co. Solicitors, Castleblayney told the meeting that successful claims against the compensation fund of the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PRSA) on behalf of farmers had been overturned on appeal by the PRSA to the High Court.
This is because the mart had been trading without a licence when it closed.
McCormack said the High Court ruled that claims were only eligible for compensation if there was a current licence in place.
The solicitor said that a change in legislation would be needed for the farmers’ claims to be successful.
According to the PSRA, individuals can only make claims for compensation “where dishonesty has occurred and where the agent that they have engaged is licensed“.
Any claim that is submitted to the PSRA against an unlicensed agent is refused.
A publicly available register of all licensed property services providers is available on the PSRA website where consumers can check the licence status of any property service provider, including businesses and employees.
Meeting
Following the meeting, IFA Ulster/North Leinster Regional chair Frank Brady claimed that the PSRA “did not do their job” and inform farmers that the mart no longer had a licence to trade.
“They put it up on their website, but what farmer ever looks at a website?” he said.
He also believes that the PRSA did not act quickly enough to close down Castleblayney Mart when issues arose.
Brady added that all of the government departments and TDs “have gone to ground” and the farmers involved are disillusioned.
“They feel they have been let down by the legal system, the mart system, the PRSA and the politicians,” he said.
Monaghan IFA chair, Patrick McCormick said there was “massive anger” in the room during the meeting.
“If there was political will from the politicians to change the legislation and allow those farmers to partake in the compensation fund that would be the ideal.”
McCormick said that “all avenues are being investigated” by the farmers.
“There is an unwillingness on the behalf of those farmers to walk away from it because they can’t. They’re small farmers, quite a number of them are sheep farmers and because of the present poor returns from sheep, they can’t afford to walk away from it,” he said.
Long-term, McCormick said they may consider further legal action against the mart owner, if necessary.