Mart to reopen in August

CONTRACT documents for the purchase of Sixmilebridge livestock mart have been signed off with vendors GVM, paving the way for a return to trading at the mart on August 27.

The legal formalities on the €300,000 deal, funded by a farmer-led consortium and brokered by a negotiating team, have been completed and a public meeting in the village next Wednesday night will select a board of management to oversee the running of the mart and put in place structures for its operation going forward.
Paul O’Neill, a member of the negotiating team, confirmed to The Clare Champion that all the legal work has been finalised and all that remains to be completed now is the appointment of a board of management.
“Wednesday night’s meeting will appoint a management committee that will take over the running of the mart. They will be given the brief to appoint the necessary staff and have everything up and running for the reopening of the mart on Saturday, August 27.
“As far as we are concerned, the date for the reopening of the livestock mart is set in stone. Everything is geared towards that date. There will be no going back,” he emphasised.
The sound of auctioneer Brendan Considine’s gavel fell silent in Sixmilebridge mart almost 18 months ago when, in a shock move, GVM closed the doors of the mart, located on a 4.5 acre site at Ballsheen. A decline in animal throughput was cited as the reason behind its closure.
The decision provoked outrage within the farming community and almost immediate of the GVM Group placing the property for sale on the open market, a campaign was launched to set up a local co-operative society with a view to purchasing the mart and reopening the facility for weekly sales.
Such a situation prevailed when the mart was first opened for business in 1973. It was founded by a group of local businessmen and traded as Bunratty Farmers Export Mart. The mart subsequently changed hands in 1986 when purchased by the Golden Vale Co-operative group.
A committee of four – Pat Enright, Paul O’Neill, Brendan Considine and Stiofan Fitzpatrick – was selected at an emergency meeting of Sixmilebridge/Kilmurry IFA when news of the mart closure broke in early December 2009.
One of their first functions was to prepare a feasibility study to determine if the mart was a viable proposition. Since then, a farmer-led consortium has drummed up support within Sixmilebridge and the neighbouring communities with the result that the purchase price of €300,000 was realised through the sale of a shares initiative scheme.