SKIBBEREEN Mart has been a stronghold of agricultural life in West Cork for many years.

This article was featured in our West Cork Farming 2026 magazine – you can read the full magazine here!

Generations of farmers have walked through its doors, with each decade bringing new changes for the industry.

In recent years, the rapid evolution of technology and the globalisation of markets has seen vast changes to agriculture in Ireland.

The Southern Star visited Skibbereen Mart to get the lay of the land and understand it’s importance for rural communities. 

Elaine Jennings runs the office at the mart.

Her and her team keep the show on the road, facilitating every logistical aspect of mart day.

Having worked in the office for over 25 years, Elaine has seen the industry change over the years: ‘Since COVID, the biggest thing that has happened to us is the online. So that’s a huge thing that has totally opened up the market for us. A person had to physically come into the mart to buy before, now they can do it online.’

This expansion of a previously localised market has led to changes not just on the mart floor, but across all aspects of the business.

Elaine said payment for livestock purchases has had to adapt with the new online system: ‘We were more check-based, but since [COVID] we’ve started using credit cards and bank transfers. All that has changed an awful lot.’

The marts evolution into a modern marketplace has been felt by the farmers as well.

Junior Williamson from Leap has been coming to Skibbereen Mart ‘all his life’, and he also feels that the biggest change in recent years has been the online system, which he says is ‘a great job.’

Shane O’Neill, Skibbereen and Junior Williamson, Leap at Skibbereen Mart. (Photos: Anne Minihane)

The mart still exists as a socialising stronghold for the rural community. Junior says mart day is ‘a kind of social day out too. You’d meet all friends and stuff, I could be talking away and it’s a good thing, meeting people.’

The restaurant kitchen is where the social aspect of Skibbereen mart flourishes.

A simple canteen room with tables, chairs and a small kitchen and serving area.

Conversations and tea are kept flowing all day here. 

Mart attendees can get a hot, full Irish breakfast in the morning, and a dinner at lunch time.

The diligent team of women keep the kitchen running throughout the day.

Nollaig Harte who runs the restaurant at Skibbereen Mart with her team FIona Minihane, Debarati Bandyopadhaya, Sharon Fahy, Margaret Buckley and Jessie Wang. Photo: Anne Minihane.

The food is simple, but delicious, and everything a hungry farmer needs to keep his mind fuelled for the day’s transactions.

Skibbereen woman Nollaig Harte has been running the mart’s restaurant since it first opened 26 years ago.

Her jobs include sourcing ingredients, cooking, staff management, quality control, and everything else needed to put food on a plate.

On the lunch menu today is roast beef, roast pork, chicken and ham and deep-fried haddock. 

All of the meat and vegetables are locally sourced, and the desserts are homemade.

Nollaig’s favourite part about working in the restaurant is the farmers, who provide ‘great conversation.’

‘You’re a bit of everybody [to them]. You’re an agony aunt, you’re a friend, you’re everything. It’s great fun, and they’re the salt of the earth.’

Nollaig believes deeply in the importance of the mart for socialisation: ‘A lot of older farmers don’t come for the mart, they come for the social side. They come for the dinner, they come for the chat, they mightn’t see anybody for a week again.’

Standing above the animal pens in the back hall of the mart, some might describe the atmosphere are overstimulating. 

The clatter of cows against the metal fencing, short moos from calves, the clanging of gates and drovers shouting to guide cattle fill the space. 

Hailstones pelting off the mart roof complete the cacophony of noise.

For those standing inside, however, you get the impression that they are exactly where they want to be.

The farmers handling the cattle being presented in the ring, many of them teenagers, carry out their work with such an admirable energy that feeds into the overall buzz of mart day.

Wading through a sea of calves and commandeering the labyrinth of gates and pens is just another day’s work for them.

Although the majority of farmers attending the mart are male, women play a vital role in supporting the local agricultural sector.

Claire Roycroft from Schull attended Skibbereen Mart with her father.

The 19-year-old mixes farming with an unlikely passion; when she’s not helping out on the farm, Claire is a nail technician.

Ella Mai Griffin and Claire Roycroft, who is also a nail technician when not farming.

‘When I tell people I’m a farmer and a beautician they’re kind of like ‘what the hell, that’s two very different jobs,” she said.

According to Claire, farming and doing nails complement each other well: ‘If you’ve a stressful day on the farm, heading back into nails…it’s just a release.’

As a young woman, attending the mart can be ‘daunting’ for Claire, but she enjoys meeting and chatting with people.

The Southern Star asked Claire a vital question; can you have long nails and farm at the same time?

‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘I love it. All the old men would be giving you looks and everything. The more makeup the better!’

Although the future of agriculture will take farmers through previously unchartered waters, it seems it will be left in good hands, as young people remain passionate about farming.