Casual trading throughout the festival season in Athlone will be much more regulated this year after the town council adopted a number of bylaws this week to govern the practice.
Initially drafted last autumn, the bylaws were publicly advertised in December and will now become law on May 6, exactly 30 days after adoption.
Chief among the new 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.
A 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 (previously £2,000 ).
Licence prices vary depending on how many days a week one wishes to trade and 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 a 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.
At the meeting on Tuesday evening, Cllr Gabrielle McFadden sought that head shop products be put on the list of prohibited items that couldn’t be sold in casual trading, and though the county manager, Danny McLoughlin, was sympathetic, he explained it would be impossible to impose at a local level when national legislation was not yet in place.
