A community warden is “terrorising” market holders and hospitality businesses by going around measuring their stalls and outdoor furniture to ensure they are sticking to the letter of the law under the regulations.
The claim was made by Fine Gael Councillor Padraig Conneely who said every effort should be made to encourage the outdoor trading activity in the city instead of making the lives of those engaged in it a misery.
He said it was now a regular occurrence for the warden to pull out a measuring tape on market stall holders trading on Saturdays outside St Nicholas’ Church to investigate whether they are in their exact allocated space.
This same measuring tape is deployed to check whether the outdoor seating at city cafes and restaurants meet the criteria under which they are granted a licence to take over the pedestrian areas.
“Outdoor street furniture and the Saturday market are a huge cultural feature of Galway City life for locals and the visitors who come to the city in such high numbers.
“These businesses and market stall holders are being terrorised. This warden is going up while customers are sitting at tables and telling the owners or managers to move back two inches. This is over-zealous and being petty and it’s just embarrassing.”
Eileen Ruane, Galway City Council’s Acting Director of Services for Planning, rejected any claim that community wardens were terrorising anybody.
She said the Council were obliged to investigate complaints from members of the public who may feel the pedestrianised space is overly encroached.
For the rest of this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.
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