Kilkenny Co-op Livestock Mart is to resume sales from next week, starting on Monday (May 31).
While a sale had been due to take place yesterday (Thursday, May 27), the event had to be postponed due to a breach in Covid-19 regulations at the mart.
However, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) confirmed that the mart is allowed to resume trading again.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Kilkenny Mart said:
“We got confirmation yesterday. We got clearance from the department and we’re back in action from Monday morning.
“Our sheep sale is on Monday morning, followed by our dairy sale. Then we have a calf sale on Tuesday and a cattle sale on Thursday. All sales will be operating as normal.”
Covid-19 measures will be strictly enforced at the sales and will require cooperation from the public as much as anything else.
The sheep sale will begin at 10:00a.m on Monday (May 31), with a dairy sale following the same day from 12:00p.m. Tuesday will see the calf sale kick off at 10:30a.m, while the cattle sale on Thursday will get underway at 10:00a.m.
A similar situation took place at Delvin Mart, Co. Westmeath, back in March, when the mart had its licence suspended and a mart sale cancelled on Thursday, March 18 – but negotiations took place between mart personnel and Department of Agriculture officials on Wednesday, March 24, to resolve the situation.
These discussions ultimately bore fruit with the mart having its trading licence restored. Sales resumed at Delvin livestock mart on Thursday, April 1.