Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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788. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to change to current level 5 restrictions to allow buyers and farmers attend mart rings in order to purchase cattle and sheep as the current restrictions are having a negative impact on the prices being received by farmers at a crucial juncture in the farming calendar; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34550/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Since the beginning of the Covid-19 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. 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 21^st October. For marts, this means a return to similar conditions under which they operated during the first phase of the pandemic. From April to June 8^th, marts operated without public attendance at sales rings, with marts able to operate transactions online or facilitate the brokering of sales, including the weighing and viewing of stock and the safe processing of financial transactions for buyers and sellers.

There are no plans at present to allow in-person sales at livestock marts while Level 5 restrictions are in place. My Department will continue to monitor the situation, and to adapt measures applied to marts in line with public health guidelines. Buyers may still view animals in person prior to sales by prior appointment with the relevant mart.

Between Monday 26th October and Sunday 1st November the cattle throughput in marts came to 37,456 head – this compares to 45,720 head in the corresponding week in 2019. This means that, despite the undoubted disruption caused by moving to Level 5, mart throughput of cattle was 81.9% of the figures for that period in 2019. This demonstrates that marts have been able to continue to operate and farmers have been able to continue to buy and sell, thanks to the commitment and resourcefulness of the marts involved.

A comparison of sale sheets returns from livestock sales that took place between October 26^th– October 30^thwith those returned in the week preceding lockdown shows that there is very little variation in price for comparative grades of animals. Forward store non breeding animals across the board have reduced slightly in price in the region of 2 – 4%, and quality light store animal values are on a par with pre-lockdown values. The overall price difference where evident is very small and this may be down to seasonal factors impacted on by the presentation of animals after recent harsh weather conditions.