Chaos at Cootehill

A local mart has been left devastated after Storm Éowyn ripped through an entire section of its sales shed.

Managing of Cootehill Livestock Mart, Steven Drury, doesn’t expect assessors out for “a couple of weeks” due to the extensive damage caused by the storm countrywide.

He described the situation as “torture” while there is “absolutely nothing” available from government that he is aware of in terms of help with repairs to businesses. He described as “disappointing” the government response in the aftermath of the storm.

Speaking to The Anglo-Celt on Tuesday morning, Steven was still awaiting news.

“At this moment in time we don’t really know what’s going to happen until the assessors see the premises, it’s an old building, it’s there since the mid 60s, we don’t know what structural damage is done beyond what you can physically see.

“In fact, it is to a certain extent a bit disappointing that right now there is no sitting government as such.”

With cameras and phone signal down, Steven had no way of knowing what state his business had been left in after the storm battered the country in the early hours of Friday morning. When the winds died down, he left his Canningstown home to check on the mart, where he was shocked to see galvanised sheets and planks of wood strewn across the yard and the nearby road.

“The first thing I was greeted with was the whole side of the mart completely blew asunder and the front of the building had collapsed in. There was a lot of damage done.”

His first concern was if anybody had been hurt by the flying sheets, followed by questions about what to do next.

With no way of contacting anybody for help or answers, he described is as a “disaster morning”.

“It’s deadly dangerous, absolutely. People wouldn’t realise, these sheets are bigger than the shape of a person so if they came and hit you in the face or the body it would be severe damage.”

He said the road along the mart is “popular” with walkers in the town, however “for the morning that was in it” nobody was around.

He tried to lift some sheets off the road. However the task proved “nearly impossible” due to the wind.

Despite a sheep sale taking place the previous evening, all animals had been removed from the mart.

“Strangely enough nothing fell into the mart as such, all the sheeting blew up and back so everything was flung into the back yard of the mart and out onto the road.”

He also feared “potential electrocution” with cables running to cameras and lights.

“We were just lucky that the power was off because otherwise there was a potential for the whole metal to be live with electric power.”

The sheets have now been gathered up with the whole front and side of the mart “secured”. They have also disconnected the power as a further safety precaution despite power being restored to the town. More sheets were lifted off on Sunday due to the winds.

“We ask the public to bear with us until we try and get the things secured properly.”

Even before the storm, Steven said businesses had been feeling the pinch.

“Businesses have been very hard hit even after the last budget and you feel, as a small business, that you’re sort of strangled a little bit in that the government doesn’t seem to be helping small businesses like ourselves to try and keep going.”

Juggling increased wages, no rate rebates and PRSI increases, the manager said “all these little things are just taking more and more away from business”.

He added: “There just doesn’t seem to be much assistance there what so ever.”

This month, the mart has “never been as busy” and they plan to host sales in a safe section of the premises. They are hoping to hold a sheep sale tomorrow (Thursday) at 6pm “depending on the wiring situation”.

They were “fortunate enough” to have renovated an old sales ring, which they can now use along with one other to hold the sale, with a slightly changed system.

The team is planning to hold the cattle sale at an earlier time of 5pm on Friday, to allow for less ring space.

“Professional electrical engineers are on site at the moment disconnecting any potential issues,” he assured.

“It is what it is, we’re all in the same boat to a certain extent.”