Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that online mart sales have been in operation since early April and that hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep have been bought and sold successfully through the various online platforms. It it is simply not feasible, however, to expect farmers to go online instead of to the mart when doing so is an essential part of essential work and when some simply do not have good broadband.

We understand and agree, as do all farmers, that public health is the priority. Nobody is disputing that. I take the Minister's word about prices holding up but given that farmers have to attend marts and simply cannot operate online, will he consider steps that could be taken to reopen the marts safely? The Government's broadband plan identifies that 40% of marts have poor broadband services that require upgrading. We are aware that many farms do not have broadband. How does the Minister expect the system to work for people who just cannot access broadband? For the reasons I have described, could the Minister look into reopening the marts safely? I agree with him that public health has to be the priority but could we look into this again?

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