The future of a burger van in the Market Square is to be severely restricted after the town council voted to proceed with a number of bylaws governing casual trading at its monthly meeting this week (November 2 ).
The bylaws are not expected to come into force before Christmas as they must be on display at the Civic Centre for six weeks and have a further consultation period of two weeks.
This might see them being adopted by the council at its December meeting but by law they cannot come into force until 30 days after adoption.
Chief among the news laws is a time limit of 9am to 6.30pm on any such trading at the four sites allowed for such activities within the boundaries of Athlone - the Market Square, St Mary’s Place, the docks below the castle, and the Civic Square.
Each stallholder cannot take up a space greater than 4m by 4m or broadcast any amplified speech or music or demonstrate any power tools. Trading licences will be strictly non-transferable.
Trading will be limited to each Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with Monday and Wednesday only included on the last week before Christmas.
All goods displayed must be legally saleable and the supervision of the sites and licences will be under the remit of the town’s traffic wardens.
The maximum penalty for breach of conditions under the 1995 Casual Trading Act is €2,500 (£2,000 ).
Licence prices vary depending on how many days a week one wishes to trade.
An annual licence to trade four days a week will cost €1,000, €500 for two days a week, and €350 for a yearly licence to trade one day week.
Licences can also be purchased on a monthly, weekly or daily basis to suit.
A number of other restrictions will be instigated; for instance there will be no wheeled vehicles allowed on the new surface outside the civic offices, and the pitch on St Mary’s Square is for the travelling fishmonger only.
Cllr Aengus O’Rourke (FF ) enquired what the rules for travelling fairs and circuses were and was told they were dealt with separately under the Planning Act.
Cllr Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (FF ) welcomed the new bylaws.
“Some people were taking up eight or 12 parking spaces to sell clothes for four days and with the amount of ratepayers in town, this is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
“The [electrical] generators are creating huge disturbances - people can hear them in Mass.”
Cllr Sheila Buckley-Byrne (Ind ) voiced her approval with this new stream of income for the council and was “delighted to see the chip van moved in the evening”.
“This will help address the Tidy Towns report which declared the Market Square as ‘very bare’,” she said, before claiming the pushing of these measures as her own.
“In fairness, these bylaws have been on the agenda a long time,” said chairman and mayor, Cllr Mark Cooney (FG ).
Cllr Buckley-Byrne reiterated her claim for responsibility, which brought out a classic ‘Boxer’ retort.
“Well, we’ll get you a peaked cap and put you in the Market Square to police them,” said Cllr Moran, “but we’d have difficulty finding a hat to fit her.”
