Marts to include assembly centres

ALL livestock marts in the State should be licensed as assembly centres, according to the Irish Cooperative Organisation Society, the co-ops national umbrella body.

ICOS Marts Committee chairman Tom Doyle made the call after warning a regime due to be enacted this year by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will effectively kill off all mart trade to the North.

He said the department proposes all marts wishing to continue with cross-border trade in its current format must construct a purpose-built EU assembly centre.

Mr Doyle said it was ironic most marts only received notification of this proposal on February 28. The last day for grant aid applications was on February 29. They were, therefore, effectively precluded from availing of any grant aid for this extra expenditure.

“This situation will result in cattle being subjected to the unnecessary welfare challenges of being transported and loaded /reloaded several times before they reach farms in the North.

“You could have the situation where cattle going from an ICOS mart in the west to, say, Fermanagh could have to be routed to an EU-approved assembly centre in Dundalk and loaded /reloaded a number of times instead of from mart direct to farm,” said Mr Doyle.

He said a mart remains the safest route for animal marketing and movement from the recording of passport, ownership and animal health status points of view.