Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1512. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the supports that will be put in place for marts as a result of the move to level 5 Covid-19 restrictions; if provision will be made for bidders to attend marts in person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32649/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Since the beginning of the Covid crisis, my Department has worked intensively, in cooperation with marts representative organisations, to ensure that marts may remain in operation. My Department has adapted the conditions under which marts must operate since April, to reflect the various measures introduced by the Government to stop the spread of Covid, and to allow marts to continue to operate.

I would like to commend the representative organisations for this good and necessary cooperation. I would like to commend also the marts themselves, and farmers around the country, for the resilience they have shown in the face of Covid, and the speed with which they have adapted to the new circumstances.

On 19^thOctober, the Taoiseach announced that the whole country would move to Level 5 of the Framework for Living with COVID-19 for a period of 6 weeks, starting midnight on Wednesday, the 21^st.

The Taoiseach has called on us all to work together to suppress the virus, and to reopen as much of our society and economy as possible when it is safe to do so. The core responsibility of this Government is to protect lives and to protect public health, while also protecting livelihoods and supporting the wider economy and society.

Protecting the agri-food sector and people in rural communities is at the centre of my Department’s direction, on 20^thOctober, that all marts may continue to conduct sales, but using online platforms only. My Department will continue to monitor the situation, and to adapt measures applied to marts in line with public health guidelines. There are no plans at present to allow in-person sales at livestock marts while Level 5 restrictions are in place.

Marts have been using online mart sales systems since April. From a position where few marts had online systems in place in April, there has been a rapid take up of the new systems by marts over recent months. Currently the vast majority of marts have online systems in place and are operating through online platforms. Some remaining marts are in the process of installing online systems. Thousands of cattle and sheep have been bought and sold successfully using the various online platforms. As with any new technology, there have been some glitches and these have been dealt with as they arise.

This is undoubtedly a challenging time. My Department is closely monitoring the situation, and we are seeing some positive aspects of online sales at marts.

Online sales are reaching a much higher number of farmers, dealers, and agents than sales on marts premises did, even prior to the start of Covid restrictions. On Saturday 24^thOctober, the online sales companies reported to my officials that, at one stage, that day more than 40,000 people were logged in to online mart sales. The majority of marts are reporting good clearance rates and robust prices.

In conclusion, I would like to mention the wide range of supports for businesses which the Government has put in place to help them through Covid. Agrifood businesses, including marts, are eligible for these supports, which are set out on the Gov.ie website.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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1513. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32664/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The person named was approved into GLAS 3 with a contract commencement date of 1 January 2017 and received payments for scheme years 2017, 2018 and the 2019 advance payment.

The GLAS application was terminated based on the findings of an On-Farm Inspection and the person named submitted an appeal to the Agriculture Appeals Office. The appeal in this case was partially allowed in that it was found that the Department’s decision to terminate the GLAS contract should be overturned but upheld the Department’s decision to reject the Wild Bird Cover action and seek a full recoupment of all GLAS payments made in respect of that action.

In accordance with this decision, the Department has reinstated the GLAS application for all approved actions except Wild Bird Cover. Processing of GLAS payments will resume on this basis, and any overpayment in relation to the Wild Bird Cover action will be recouped in due course.