Marts continuing to seek supports as department holds its line

Marts are continuing to seek financial supports from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to deal with the business fallout from Covid-19, though progress has been slow.

Mart Managers of Ireland (MMI) has written to Minister Michael Creed this week to seek a meeting on this issue, though it is understood that the group has yet to hear back on this.

Speaking to AgriLand, Eimear McGuinness, the chairperson of MMI, said: “We have various different ideas of where we think [the minster] could definitely help us.”

Among the key costs for marts that, according to McGuinness, need to be addressed in light of Covid-19, the main ones are rates, insurance and offsetting the costs of new online systems that the marts will have to set up.

“I know they [the department] are not going to hand us an envelope and say ‘there you are, open up again’… We’re looking for small things. [The minister] is going to have to help us there,” McGuinness said.

On the issue of costs for online systems, the MMI chairperson explained that there is a payment in place to assist businesses in this regard, but that the majority of marts would not be able to avail of it due to a limit on the turnover of a business that seeks the payment.

A number of TDs are also understood to have written to Minister Creed on behalf of MMI, while the marts representative body has written to Heather Humphreys, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation too.

Department’s stance

This week, the Department of Agriculture moved to highlight the supports for businesses that marts are entitled to avail of.

A spokesperson for Minister Creed said: “A range of supports for businesses, including marts, have already been announced by the Government…including the SBCI [Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland] Covid-19 Working Capital Loan Scheme, which is co-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“This loan scheme will make working capital available to impacted SMEs [small and medium enterprises]. Minister Creed has secured 40% of an additional €200 million Future Growth Loan Scheme for investment in SMEs,” the spokesperson noted.

As well as that, the Government has also put in place a €2 billion Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme for businesses negatively impacted by the virus outbreak, the spokesperson explained.