A LIVESTOCK mart in Co Clare, closed by Golden Vale 12 months ago, looks set to reopen after the local community secured a deal to purchase the facility.
Sixmilebridge Mart first opened in 1973 but ceased operations at the end of last year with the owners, Golden Vale Marts, stating that the operation was no longer viable.
The closure shocked the local community and farmers over a wide area of east Clare quickly rallied together in an effort to purchase and reopen the mart.
Over 500 farmers, members of the local community and other groups including the local parish council, joined forces and purchased shares to fund the bid.
The facility, on a 4.5-acre site, was placed for sale on the open market earlier this year with an original asking price of €600,000.
It has now been confirmed that after almost a year of bargaining, the facility has been purchased for €300,000, half the original asking price.
Sixmilebridge parish priest Fr Harry Bohan, who was one of the three-man committee which finally agreed the deal with Golden Vale last week, said: “This is huge for the local community and the farmers in east Clare who have fought very hard to see this important facility retained.
“The two significant factors here are that the farmers did not let this go and that the local community really made their feelings and presence felt on the issue,” he said. “It would have been very easy for the community to just give in and say it’s over but they all fought very hard to make this a reality.”
A meeting with farmers will take place early in the new year to seek agreement of the deal. After that, it is expected that company or co-op will be established so that it can reopen the facility as a mart although it is expected that some work will have to be carried out at the site which has fallen into disrepair over the past year.