‘Any cuts to emissions must not threaten viability of family farms’

"What’s the future? No one really knows."

Mart manager Maurice Brosnan at Gortatlea Mart, Co Kerry: “The biggest problem I see going forward is there’s going to be a lot less farmers, the young crowd are not getting into it, and it’s hard to blame them.” Picture: Dan Linehan

Punters at Gortatlea Mart were focused on the task at hand on Friday, but the underlying “worry” on everyone’s lips was the emissions reduction target set for the sector the night before.

There was much time spent by many debating what that target should and shouldn’t be — and while it is now known it has been settled at 25%, a certain level of the unknown for Irish farmers continues.