Laois mart looks set to reopen four years after 'crippling costs' forced closure
Mountrath is in line for a boost with a claim from a Laois Offaly Minister that the town's livestock mart looks set to reopen.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett flagged the reopening.
"I understand that Mountrath Mart will reopen in the coming months, having closed in Jan 2019. It’s planned to have two livestock sales a week, with a longer-term plan to have machinery sales too," said the Green Party minister.
The Geashill-based politician extended best wishes to the operators in the year ahead in her social media post.
A representative for the Mountrath Livestock Co-op Mart Committee told the Leinster Express / Laois Live in 2019 that the part closed due to rising costs, particularly insurance costs which were cited as being "crippling".
It was stressed, however, that the mart was totally solvent, and farmers were not owed any money. The mart was understood to have funds in reserve when it closed. The mart had been open for 51 years when it closed.
Mountrath Livestock Co-op Mart Sales Ltd last filed an annual return and accounts with the Company Registration Office at the end of 2021.
The latest development coincides with an upturn in mart prices. Agriland reported in January an "explosive mart trade seen for all types of finished cattle" at marts. It was reported that mart prices were outperforming the price being paid available at meat factories.
It's not all good news on the mart front in Laois. Portlaoise Mart, which sits on a 3.5 acre site on the Timahoe Road, was put on the market in 2022. It ceased trading as a livestock mart some years back.