Councillor William Carey has called upon South Dublin County Council to offer some form of respite to casual traders in the renewal of their annual fees. Cllr Carey was making his comments in response to a reply from SDCC to a question he put down at the January council meeting which followed a year in which all trading has been disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. SDCC stated in their reply that “ it is not proposed to compensate casual trading licence holders specifically”.
Cllr Carey added that, “I have spoken to a representative of the Irish Organisation of Market & Street Traders (I.O.M.S.T.) who confirmed that Dublin City Council had reduced their annual fees by 50% for the coming year as a result of representation they had made”. Whilst making his comments Cllr Carey stated that the SDCC response was not acceptable and that he will be putting down a motion to address this matter. It is simply not good enough to expect traders to continue paying for a licence when they cannot trade. Cllr Carey pointed out that Dublin City council had agreed to reduce their fees to casual traders by 50% for the coming year in acknowledgement of the difficulties endured over the previous 10 months. Cllr Carey said that all local authorities should make allowance for the loss of trade that these casual traders have endured over the past year.
