The new chief executive of the Irish Cooperative Organisation Society (ICOS) has said the country has too many marts but has praised their resilience.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal in his first interview since taking over as the chief executive of ICOS, TJ Flanagan said for competition purposes, there should be less “sales centres”.

“ICOS has always said there are too many marts,” he said.

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There are almost 90 marts in the country with a high concentration in the west of Ireland. Galway has 10 marts, Leitrim is home to five, while Roscommon has three marts. Flanagan did praise the resiliency of marts in the face of operational challenges.

“After all the talk of impending doom, marts haven’t collapsed. They’re all still going and most of them are strong … I would be slow at foretelling the demise of marts with too much gusto,” he said.

“In some counties, there are too many sales centres.”