Farmers are among those who have lost out on €580,000 worth of compensation claims, following the collapse of Castleblaney Mart in Co Monaghan.

Of the 78 claims submitted to the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA), worth in the region of €600,000, 76 were rejected. Two were settled, with a total value of €21,746.

The claims were lodged in relation to livestock which farmers were not paid for and for money owed in relation to land sales.

The compensation fund “is only open to clients of a PSRA licensed property service provider, which is why the PSRA always recommends that individuals ensure that they engage a licensed agent”, a spokesperson for the PSRA told the Irish Farmers Journal.

EP Nugent, which ran the mart, was not licensed at the time those claimants had engaged the company, they said.

There is still a case between EP Nugent and the PSRA before the courts and the PSRA said it could not comment any further on the case.

In April 2018, a liquidator was appointed to EP Nugent. It was then revealed that the mart had been operating without the required licence.

ICMSA deputy president Lorcan McCabe told the Irish Farmers Journal that there should be an onus on the PSRA to make the public aware that a licence is gone or has been withdrawn.

“There has to be some way of a farmer knowing that the licence was gone,” he said.