Castlerea Co-Operative Livestock Mart in Roscommon is the latest mart to push back its 2021 sales resumption date by one week.

The mart was due to hold its first sale of 2021 on Thursday 7 January, but has taken the decision to defer this until 14 January 2021.

Manager Brendan Egan said: “The decision was not taken lightly, but given the increase in coronavirus cases and Government advice to limit interaction of people where at all possible, we feel it is in the best interests of the mart staff and our loyal customer base.

"Hopefully the recent appeals for people to limit their movement will pay dividends this week and we will be in a much better position next week”.

Aurivo Marts

Aurivo Marts has pushed back its planned reopening in all centres by one week.

Balla Mart in Co Mayo will now reopen for its cattle sale on Saturday 16 January.

This is followed by the sheep sale in Ballymote on Tuesday 19 January and the cattle sale in Ballinrobe on Wednesday 20 January.

Aurivo Marts has decided to defer the reopening of its marts for one week

Ballinrobe Mart's opening sheep sale of 2021 will now take place on Thursday 21 January, while the first cattle sale of 2021 in Ballymote Mart will take place on Friday 22 January.

Mohill Mart's next cattle sale will take place on 23 January.

Sales will continue on a weekly basis after these dates.

An Aurivo spokesperson said: "In light of the rising COVID-19 numbers and in the interest of the health and safety of our customers and staff, Aurivo Marts has decided to defer the reopening of its marts for one week from the previously scheduled dates."

Delayed openings

Many marts which hold sales at the start of the week had already planned to skip trading this week and reopen next week, while a number of other marts which had planned to resume trading this week have deferred their opening until next week.

This includes the six Cork Marts centres in Bandon, Cahir, Dungarvan, Fermoy, Macroom and Skibbereen, plus Raphoe Mart in Co Donegal.

Headford Mart has also taken the decision to push back its sales resumption date from Saturday 9 January to Saturday 16 January.

Meanwhile, Roscommon Co-Operative Livestock Mart has pushed back its opening sheep sale from Wednesday 6 January to Wednesday 13 January, with its first cattle sale of 2021 taking place on Friday 15 January.

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