asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will outline the protection available to customers of livestock marts in the event of any financial difficulty which may occur.
Written Answers. - Livestock Mart Customers.
231.
Article 15 of the Livestock Marts Regulations, 1968, requires that a licensee (proprietor) of a mart shall either deposit with the Minister for Agriculture a guarantee bond issued by an assurance company whereby the company guarantees due performance by the licensee of the obligations incurred in the running of the mart or satisfy the Minister that he made other arrangements which were adequate to guarantee due performance of such obligations.
My Department, in consultation with the mart interests, did everything possible to give effect to this article but, in practice, the bonding requirement was found to be inoperable because commercial assurance companies were not prepared to make guarantee bonds available on a basis acceptable to mart proprietors. The provision of alternative types of arrangement as envisaged in the article also proved impracticable.