Cattle to be sold online as bidders fail to pay

The 1,000 cattle belonging to a Co Cork farmer which were auctioned earlier this week will have to be resold after the sales agent last night disclosed that the two successful bidders had failed to pay for their purchases.

The plan now is not to re-run the auction but to sell the cattle through an online tender process in an apparent attempt to avoid the protests that have surrounded the sale.

The auction, which took place on the farm of Peter Kingston, 51, from Nohoval, near Kinsale, was carried out on Tuesday after ACC Loan Management secured a €2.45m judgment against him.