Farmers’ market rejects ‘extravagant and unsuitable’ plan for Ennis

Plans for a new market area in Ennis have been rejected as "too extravagant and unsuitable" by Ennis Farmers' Market, which would be the main user of the planned project.

Ennis Farmers' Market spokeswoman Mary Gray said the traders and many local residents and businesses had serious concerns about the €1.75 million county council plan, which involves two adjacent pavilions covered by a plexiglass roof.

She said the traders had not been consulted before the design was drawn up and that what was proposed was “totally unsuitable for any market trading, drastically reduces the currently available car parking and is unsuitable for any other cultural or community activities”.

The market traders were “presented with a finished design and nothing that was raised in the planning process or subsequent engagements has resulted in any material changes”.

No help

Ennis may be one of the country’s best-known market towns but vegetable grower

Jason Horner

said the farmers’ market had spent 10 years trying and failing to get help from the council.

The market operates from a car park in the town on Friday mornings but traders don’t have electricity or any form of rain cover.

Nor do they have signage to direct visitors in the town to the market area. Up to 15 traders sell produce such as cakes, cheese, eggs, honey, vegetables and plants.

Electricity needed

Mr Horner said it would cost €40,000 to provide electricity but instead the council was forging ahead with a €1.75 million plan that no one wanted. There was a lot of talk about saving rural towns yet when it came to supporting a group of local growers and food producers, there seemed to be no interest.

“What aggrieves us is that we have been pushing the same old thing for the past 10 years and getting nowhere.”

The market had 23 traders at its busiest time but some left because of the lack of electricity. While people can use generators to power fridges and water boilers, they say they are expensive and not environmentally friendly.

A spokesman for Clare County Council said it had had a number of engagements with the market traders about the new development.

It would be “a structure that respects the market ethos while at the same time dealing with the issues that have been addressed in many of the markets nationally and internationally”.

He said it would cost about €530,000 to erect the structure, with the balance of the estimated cost being spent on service improvements around the area.

“The council is absolutely committed to the market in Ennis and is of the view that the current arrangements fall well below what is expected by the public in a modern market,” he said.

Central feature

“Everything we are doing is geared towards revitalising and renewing the market area of Ennis and restoring the market activity as a central feature to the retail environment of Ennis.”

He said signage was a sensitive issue and the council received a lot of requests for individual signage.

“It would also be our view that a rejuvenated market would be an attraction in its own right and, given its central location at the heart of Ennis, would not need specific signage but would be a location where people would seek to go.”