Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been monitoring the situation very closely and talking to farmers and mart operators up and down the country. As I have outlined, there was a difficulty with one online platform provider last Saturday week which led to four marts out of 30 not being able to complete their sales. However, overall there has been a lot of success with the sales operating online. Very important from my point of view is the fact that prices have been holding up and have indeed improved across many livestock categories. That is the number one priority for farmers. Certainly for those selling this has worked reasonably well and is continuing to improve. For those buying it has posed more difficulties. Farmers and purchasers like to see the animals physically as opposed to just online or before the sale. We are, however, in level 5 and, unfortunately, not in a position to operate level 3 restrictions in level 5. The bottom line is that I am monitoring this very closely and prices are holding up, and for farmers that is the most important thing.

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