Market traders in Tralee, Co Kerry are to invoke an ancient charter to fight the town council's attempts to force a four-fold increase on day trading charges.
The traders say they may be entitled to the money they have paid the council over the years as the charter appears to give them the right to trade free of charge.
The dozen or so traders who congregate in the square in Tralee on Fridays, and Saturdays are facing increases from €12.50 per day to €60 during the summer, and increases to €40 during the winter.
Additional fees are proposed for busy times such as the week of the Rose of Tralee festival.
However, the traders, advised by west Cork solicitor Mr Greg Casey, have unearthed a 1610 charter incorporating market rights.
Now the traders are looking into whether they are entitled to the money paid to the town council over the last six years, since the local authority took over the market rights from the Department of Trade and Enterprise.
"We were already paying €1,500 a year to the town council as well as insurance," Mr Peter Keane, spokesman for the Tralee Market Traders' Association explained. The proposed increase is the most severe yet.
Traders engaged in selling home produce, either grown or hand-crafted, are very much part of town life in Tralee at the weekends and could not afford the proposed increases, Mr Keane said.