Livestock farmers who buy or sell at marts will be interested to see the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) recently prosecuted a Co Galway auctioneer for operating without a PSRA licence. The auctioneer, Austin McInerney, trading as McInerney Auctioneers, was convicted at Gort Court and fined €500.

This was the first such investigation by the authority which resulted in conviction and fine since it was established in 2012.

The more than 100 farmers owed money after the collapse of Castleblayney Mart while it was trading without a licence will wonder why chair Geraldine Clarke and chief executive Maeve Hogan couldn’t get their enforcement mojo going a bit earlier.

It’s not as if the authority was unaware of problems among a minority of marts.

Licence

In 2016, it found another livestock mart to be trading without a licence and prosecuted the operator. He pled guilty and told the Court he would obtain a licence. On foot of this, the court did not impose a conviction or fine.

For his part, Austin McInerney has operated for many years at Church Street, Gort, Co Galway, selling general residential property and farms.