The operator of a Dublin canal boat restaurant ordered to stop selling takeaway pizza has been given no explanation for an apparent U-turn on the ban, he has said.
Shiful Islam, who runs La Peniche on the Grand Canal, said he was forced to throw out €3,000 worth of fresh food when gardaí told him to shut hours after opening on March 25th.
The chef said he was told he didn’t have a trading licence for selling food or refreshments while the boat was stationary.
But Mr Islam said he was told on Friday evening – just over a week later – by Waterways Ireland, which licences trading activity on the canal, that he would be granted a temporary trading licence to continue his takeaway business during the pandemic.
“We are happy to get back to work, that’s all we care about now,” Mr Islam said, as he made final preparations before reopening at 5pm on Saturday.
He added, however, that there had been no explanation from Waterways Ireland for the about-turn.
“Last night I was talking to them and they just said you can trade, that is okay,” he said.
Mr Islam said it was “awful” and “way too much” that gardaí were dispatched to order his closure – after he fitted the boat with pizza ovens so he could trade as a takeaway while trips along the canal are suspended under Covid-19 restrictions.
Waterways Ireland previously said it “empathises deeply” with commercial operators who are unable to operate due to the pandemic, but said it cannot support activities that are in breach of the restrictions.
There was a “significant difference between a cruising passenger boat providing meals to a limited number of passengers” and a stationary boat moored “for the purpose of selling takeaway food to members of the public”, the cross-border body said on Thursday.
It said it understood a takeaway business “trading from a boat at a fixed location” would require planning permission, but when “the vessels are moving, the activity does not require planning permission”.
Large numbers of people were congregating along the Grand Canal “leading to increases in anti-social behaviour, littering and impacting on the physical integrity of the banks themselves”, it said at the time.
Waterways Ireland was contacted for comment.
Asked for a response, gardaí said it “does not comment on named individuals/entities” or “on third party materials”.