Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not good enough. Deputy McConalogue is the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He needs to stand up for our farming communities. Let us take some things as given. Marts are doing everything in their power to ensure that the online facilities are up to standard. They are the people telling us they are not working effectively. The people calling me - they must be calling the Minister as well - are farmers from right across the country who are telling me stories of how their animals have to be taken home and how they have taken a financial hit as a result. This is not about whether or not restrictions need to be put in place. We accept, of course, that they do. This is about what constitutes essential activity. The only aspect of food production that is not considered an essential activity is the one area within the market chain over which farmers have any semblance of control. They are begging the Minister to intervene, to stand up for them and to call for marts to be able to operate on a restricted basis that would allow some buyers who cannot currently access the market to do so.

See this speech in context