Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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901. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the guidelines in place for the selling of Christmas trees in an outdoor setting under the current level 5 restrictions and also under level 3 and 4 restrictions; where these vendors can access the guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36919/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The guidelines regarding current restrictions due to Covid-19 are available on Gov.ie and HSE.ie.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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902. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will reopen livestock marts with all social distancing guidelines alongside online bidding in view of the fact that marts are essential businesses and are an integral part of the food supply chain and should be aligned with other essential food production operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36920/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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On 19^thOctober, the Taoiseach announced that the whole country would move to Level 5 of the Framework for Living with Covid19 for a period of six weeks, starting on 21^st October.

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 conduct sales 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. Buyers are already permitted to view animals in marts before sale, socially distanced and by prior appointment with the relevant mart. There is no consideration being given at present to allowing buyers to attend at the sales ring while the country remains at Level 5. 

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.  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.

There are 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.  The number of people logging in to online mart sales on a daily basis are many multiples of those that typically attend a mart sale in person. The majority of marts are reporting good clearance rates and robust prices.

From 9th to 15th November, cattle throughput in marts came to 31,220 head – this compares to 40,340 head in the corresponding week in 2019, or 77.4% of the corresponding 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 and service providers involved.