Stallholders' future is still unclear three years after the closure of Dublin's fruit and veg market was flagged, writes Olivia Kelly
New plans for the redevelopment of Dublin's Victorian fruit and vegetable market will be released by Dublin City Council later this month, almost three years after the transformation of the area was announced.
Former city manager John Fitzgerald announced plans in mid-2005 to turn the fruit and vegetable market and the neighbouring fish market, now demolished, into a new complex of restaurants, apartments and retail food markets.
However, almost three years later, the market traders who still occupy the Victorian building say the council has made no contact with them and they have been given no information about the future of their businesses.
Approximately 34 traders selling fruit, vegetables and flowers are tenants of the council in the market, located between the Four Courts and Capel Street, just to the north of the river Liffey. The majority have been renting pitches from the council for decades, with businesses passed down through some families for more than 100 years.
Most of the stallholders are wholesalers and are represented by the Dublin Market Traders Association. The association says it has been seeking a meeting with the council since the 2005 announcement - of which the traders had no prior notice - but without success.
The association engaged legal representation and in November 2005 wrote to the council seeking talks. The council replied in February 2006 saying it was willing to engage in exploratory negotiations to examine the traders' options; however, these discussions never materialised.
The council does have a representative in the shape of the market superintendent, but traders say he has told them he cannot comment on the matter. A senior council official has said there are issues of commercial sensitivity surrounding the market plans and it would have been inappropriate to discuss the plans with traders before they were put before the city councillors.
The association says it accepts that the market is no longer suitable for the wholesale trade, mostly due to the problem of getting lorries in and out of the city. However, in order for traders to plan the future of their businesses, they need to know the council's plans, particularly in relation to the relocation of the wholesale trade. Concerns reached a peak, when the traders learned in recent weeks, through an article in The Irish Times, that a preferred bidder for the development had been chosen.
"Everything we know about the plans for the market we've learned through the media," association representative and trader Pat Martin says. "We just want to know if they have some sort of relocation programme for the traders, but two years later and they haven't come back to us with any suggestions."
The traders in no way want to block the redevelopment and are eager to resolve the issue but they have been unable to find anyone in the council who will accept responsibility for decision-making, Mr Martin says.
Fellow trader Stephen Keogh says the council had become an increasingly poor landlord in recent years and had made it difficult for the traders to operate.
"They decided a few years back that there could only be loading and unloading outside between 6am and 8.30am and if one pallet was on the street after 8.30am, they threatened they would lock the gates - that would be a fire hazard in itself. It's bully-boy tactics designed to make it too difficult to work here."
The council says the restriction was for health and safety reasons.
The exterior of the building was given a facelift in 2000 at a cost of about €2 million; however, the interior is in considerable disrepair, with a leaking roof, poor toilet facilities and old electrical fittings.
The executive city manager with responsibility for the markets development, Declan Wallace, says the city councillors would be briefed on the new plans and the identity of the new bidder before the end of the month.
"The councillors have to have their say and give their permission for disposal of the site, then the market traders will be dealt with in terms of relocation or compensation." Once the preferred bidder is disclosed, he adds, a deal on exchange of lands may be a possibility.
A planning application for the new development is due to be lodged before the end of this year. The scheme will be an improvement on that published in 2005, Mr Wallace says, and there would be room for some of the wholesalers to stay within the redeveloped market.