Milk Market minds to present Ennis plan

THE architects behind the success of Limerick’s re-vamped Milk Market are to present a feasibility report on the development of Ennis’ market to the town council. The local authority have engaged Healy Partners, who were behind the covering of the market in Limerick, to make it an all-weather facility and to look at the potential in Ennis. The meeting also heard that the installation of electrical points at the Farmer’s Market will be completed shortly.

 

This week’s meeting of the town council saw councillors express their concerns for the future of the market, with Councillor Tommy Brennan likening the current state of the market to “a shanty town”.
A court case is currently in progress in relation to casual trading in the market, with the case expected to be heard in late May.

Councillor Johnny Flynn had put forward a motion calling for a discussion on the feasibility research of a covered market for Ennis similar to the Milk Market.

Speaking at the meeting he stated, “We need to keep the market vital and vibrant. The market is in decline and anything we can do to bring it into the 21st century needs to be done. The market is on its knees at the moment.”

Councillor Brennan commented that while the market needs to be upgraded, Ennis does not need to look to other cities for inspiration.

“Ennis has been known as a market town through the years and something needs to be done to restore the market,” he said. He criticised the decision to turn the market stalls away from the road, and stated that the payment methods for stallholders are deterring them from coming to Ennis.

“It’s like a shanty town, all you can see is white plastics onto the road now that they are turned around. This is not a health and safety issue, there was never anyone killed in the market.

“We need to look at the fees, the stallholders have to pay six months in advance and it’s deterring anyone from coming. If we lose that market you can’t bring it back.”

Councillor Mary Coote Ryan stated, “It will be very sad to see it going and it will if we don’t do something soon. The stalls facing the shops are awful.”

Councillor Mary Howard described the market as looking “higgledy-piggledy” with stalls positioned randomly.

“We can learn from the success of the Milk Market in Limerick, it has a footfall of between 10,000 and 15,000 on a Saturday with uniformity of stalls. We need to address this now, if we do something right we can get back the stalls.”

Councillor Michael Guilfoyle stated that something needs to be done about traffic in the carpark at the market.

“If we want to make it a more family friendly place we can’t have cars coming out of the carpark and being backed up,” he said.

Councillor Brian Meaney welcomed the progress on the installation of the electrical points for the Farmer’s Market.

Town manager Ger Dollard, in response to the councillors, stated that there are currently 23 licences issued to stall holders for the market.

He commented, “The market is a part of Ennis and there are concerns about a variety of issues. Less traders in Ennis seems to be a feature of the current environment. There are 23 licences issued and a variety of payment arrangements are in place. We do not know why some operators are not turning up, we can’t force them to.”

He outlined that in relation to the upcoming court case concerning the casual trading bylaws it is expected that the hearing will last four to five days.

“In preparing the casual trading bylaws we were obliged to abide by the 1995 legislation. The case taken involves how does this sit with historic market rights. Ennis Town Council are dealing with the issue, it is an issue of national legislation and we cannot interfere while the court case is in progress as it could be seen as a potential contempt.”

He added that the Milk Market in Limerick has been a “vibrant, huge success” and that the council expects to hear back from Healy Partners shortly.

“There is not a lack of desire to improve the market and there will be decisions required from the members of the council ultimately in relation to the traffic and pedestrian conflict. That will have to be dealt with. Limerick has dealt with it and everybody sees the advantage there of having a pedestrian market. I don’t think that the market will ever be thriving until that issue is dealt with.”