“It was a friend of mine, linked me to a wedding in a mart on Facebook in England, so I said if they wanted one in Ireland I could facilitate them, so from there it’s just taken off,” Dan McCarthy explains.

Ten years ago, the Health Service Executive (HSE) gave permission for the first civil wedding to take place outside a registry office and McCarthy feels that the mart would make a perfect venue for matchmaking and marriage.

“If women are looking for a man, they get dressed up on a Saturday night and head out to a nightclub. But with all the dark rooms and bright lights they won’t get a good look at a man. In the mart they’d get a good look at man and be able to see his business skills in action and how many sheep or cattle he has.”

Where there's a wedding, you often, but not always, need a ram

“And there’s a catwalk and two aisles in the mart so the bride can choose whatever aisle she wants! Mind you, if a woman did get a man in the mart I wouldn’t want to be the one in the office if she came back because she wasn’t happy with what she got,” McCarthy added with a chuckle.

Shy around women

However, although McCarthy acknowledges that suggesting the mart as a wedding venue has been a bit of craic, there is a serious element to his proposal as well.

“Rural Ireland is decimated, with single men in their 50s and 60s who stayed at home to look after their parents and now live with no one but themselves in the house.”

“We can laugh about it all we like, but how many farmers are bachelors and very shy around women?” McCarthy added.

But there is hope that the bachelors of Kerry will find love at the mart, as McCarthy reported that Monday’s mart definitely featured a few more female faces checking out the competition.

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