Tag Archives: Clare Marts

LOCAL people will be among those showcasing their talents alongside the Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre when the company brings their brand new show to Ennis next week. Fidget Feet are bringing their new show “HOUSE” to Clare Marts, Quin Road on Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10. Ahead of the show, Fidget Feet put a call out to the people of Clare through to join them in this collaborative community spectacle with circus, theatre and drive-in bingo. “HOUSE Open Days” is a community project that integrates local communities into the show itself and will see community part-takers dance alongside 20 experienced and talented Fidget Feet dancers in the show. According to the company this project brings people together both young and old with an integral focus on the arts, wellbeing, mental and physical health. The show is a sequel to their hugely successful show Bingo Wings and brings its bingo fever to the 1980s Royal Broadway Parish Bingo, …

A MART operator has been ordered to pay €10,000 in personal damages to a young female Limerick dairy farmer from injuries she sustained after a one ton bull escaped from a pen at Ennis Mart five years ago. At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Colin Daly has ordered Clare Co-Operative Marts to pay Rose Keating (28) €10,000 for the incident on May 25 2017 that left three other people injured by the Charolais bull. Judge Daly stated that the appropriate general damages in the case was €20,000. However, he halved the pay-out to €10,000 after finding that Ms Keating was 50pc responsible for the injuries she suffered. Judge Daly made this finding after concluding on the balance of probabilities Ms Keating opened the latch to the pen that allowed the bull escape. In evidence, Ms Keating had denied opening the gate that allowed the bull escape. Judge Daly made the award after Ms Keating earlier rejected a settlement offer by Clare …

WEAK broadband infrastructural across Clare has been condemned by the county chairperson of the IFA, after online mart trading collapsed recently due to pressure on the system. Level 5 restrictions have severely curtailed the operation of marts across the country with all transactions now taking place virtually. Tom Lane of Parteen said that the inadequate state of broadband infrastructure in the county had been exposed and that speeding up initiatives like the National Broadband Plan was now an urgent matter. A technical glitch, outside of the control of Clare Marts, who use an external supplier for their streaming and online sales, meant that trading was interrupted for a time last Saturday week. “There was a major problem nationwide,” Michael McNamara, the manger explained. “One of the software providers that offer livestreaming, their server crashed or was unable to handle the volume of business. Thankfully, that got resolved. It was out for two to two-and-a-half hours, but got up and running …

MARTS will continue to operate under Level 5 restrictions, but all sales will move online and access to the premises in Ennis, Kilfenora, Scariff and Kilrush will be strictly controlled. Sellers are asked to book a time to ‘drop and go’. Similarly, buyers must pre-book a viewing time when they will be able to look at animals in the mart yard. They must then leave the mart and make their bids remotely either online or through an app. “It is going to be tough, there’s no doubt about that, but we’re determined to keep the service to farmers going,” said General Manager of Clare Marts, Martin McNamara. “We’ve already being conducting a lot of business online and Level 5 means our sales will now move entirely online. Sellers need to book with us in advance so that they can drop their animals off at the mart and go. Buyers, who might be working on behalf of a number of customers, …

CLARE Marts have confirmed that its facilities will continue operations under Level 3 pandemic restrictions. The Department of Agriculture had indicated that marts are designated as an essential service, but suggested some may have some of their operating procedures adjusted to take account of the new national restrictions. Martin McNamara, general manager of Clare Marts noted that since re-opening of marts in early June, huge efforts had been made to adhere to national public health guidelines and to facilitate on-line sales to reduce the number of people attending in person. He also expressed the hope that the move to Level 3 would make it easier to enforce the regulations. “The move to Level 3 shouldn’t make any great difference,” he said. “The rules are already being strictly enforced with social distancing, masks, sanitisers and so on. The bottom line is, though, that people won’t be allowed in if they have no business at the mart, because numbers are restricted until …

HISTORY has been made at Scariff Mart, with facilities now available online as well as in the sales ring. Since the mart facility re-opened at the start of this month, brisk trade has been reported with strong prices and many satisfied farmers as they adapt to changing times and changing technology. Councillor Pat Burke, a board member of Clare Marts and member of the advisory committee for Scariff Mart, said that Covid-19 had forced through a number of changes which had been in the pipeline for a number of years before the pandemic. “We had been looking at an online sales facility in Clare Marts for a number years,” he explained. “We had been out in France and seen systems there, where farmers are given what I would describe as a zapper, and they can make a bid from anywhere in the mart building. Covid came along and forced through some very big changes in a short space of time.” …

MART managers in Clare are hoping national Covid-19 guidelines will be eased to to give farmers the opportunity of buying and selling cattle in an open market. It is understood that a decision may be taken later this week to ease restrictions on marts next week while still applying strict DOA and HSE Covid-19 guidelines. Sixmilebridge Mart manager, Sean Ryan confirmed the mart was matching farmers who were selling and producers who wanted to buy cattle but acknowledged it was very hard work and very hard to manage. Mr Ryan said marts were willing to work with the Department of Agriculture to facilitate a return to live auctions under strict HSE guidelines. On March 25, about 350 cattle were sold in Sixmilebridge Mart under strict guidelines in the last sale before the national lockdown. The mart has spent almost €2,000 on the provision of hand sanitisers and infection control. “Farmers want to sell and buy cattle and the most appropriate …

PERMISSION from government to resume the sale of animals at marts, under strict new regulations, has been welcomed in Clare. Concerns had been voiced by farming leaders after all marts were shut down last week in response to the Covid-19 crisis. After intensive talks about how livestock trading can continue at a time when hundreds of thousands of animals need to be sold, the Department of Agriculture has agreed to allow marts to resume operations on a limited basis. It is understood that marts will oversee the weighing, buying and selling of animals without crowds being allowed to attend. Each mart will be required to submit operating protocols for approval before being allowed to conduct any business. “Farmers in Clare are under pressure to sell animals on at this time,” said ICMSA County Chairperson Martin McMahon. “We’re a productive county and cattle from here go to the midlands and East and at least if the marts are available to match …