I’m told that a total of €248,000 in funding has been spread out among 64 marts around the country under the Marts ICT Infrastructure Scheme 2021.

The aim of the scheme was ultimately to improve the online bidding setup.

There are nearly 3m cattle and sheep sold through marts every year, so I think it was no harm that the blended approach of online and in-person sales was adopted.

Livestock marts could apply to the Department of Agriculture for a grant of a maximum of €5,000 to cover 50% of expenditure by a mart on IT infrastructure under the scheme.