Know Your Market Rights And Take Action Now!

national | consumer issues | feature Saturday October 22, 2005 13:52 by Kathy Sinnott

Administrative changes set to alter the right to hold farmer's markets

From 1st June 2006 any town, village or city suburb that has not formally claimed its right to hold markets may find that they are permanently prevented from ever doing so. There is a revival in the popularity of such markets which will likely be snuffed out if we don't act now. Katy Sinnott explains how you can preserve these rights for your locality - and it's easier than you might think.

EXTRACT: "So how do you know if your town has market rights? Almost every village does. To be sure, look at village place names. Is there a Fish Market Street or Market Square? Try to remember if you went to a market or fair in your town, or of being told of one by your parents or grandparents. If you don’t remember maybe someone else will. Ask. Look in town records. Check with the local history buff. If there ever was a market or ‘fayre’ they your village may have market rights. You don’t have to locate where the market was held or hold future markets where they were held in the past. It doesn’t matter. If the right is there it is there for the whole town as in Skibbereen. And don’t think if you live in the city market rights don’t apply to your area. It might be hard when trying to cross a road in busy Douglas to remember that it was once a small village district from Cork, but it was and most probably has market rights.

Don’t delay or you will find that the old rights have expired. The deadline is looming to find out if you can do this. To lay claim to the rights, the village must hold a market before June 1st 2006. It is a short time and it might sound daunting but doesn’t have to be. A table with a basket of turnips and carrots will do. There must be a public announcement of the event. A hand written notice in a shop window or a couple of lines in the parish newsletter will do. If the market is held at least once a year for ten years your market rights are secure."
ARTICLE IN FULL

If you ever crave elderberry preserves, red currant jelly with a hint of sloe, blackberry and rosehip jam or rhubarb apple butter you should locate a real farmers’ market.

I imagine some of you still have fond memories of the ‘Farmers Market’. Maybe you arrived early to get the pick of the fresh vegetables and newly laid duck eggs. You probably had your favourite stalls but it was important to take a look around the tables and compare the offerings.

The buying done, your shopping bag filled and tucked under a chair, a spread of warm scones, fresh butter, some of that homemade jam and of course a pot of tea before you, you could settle for a chat. It wouldn’t be long before you were joined by friends and the talk could begin. The chat was casual but vital to women who were separated by fields and hedgerows the rest of the week. After church on Sunday there was an opportunity to greet one another and share news but with listening ears, especially little ones, it was not the time to discuss that news and certainly not the time for airing more personal hopes and disappointments. To get down to the real business of conversation there was nothing like the country market.

Thankfully, the markets aren’t all gone. I have been to the farmers markets of Carrigaline and Ballincollig, on a Friday morning and Midleton and the Coal Quay [Cork City] on a Saturday. They are certainly alive and well. But considering that there were markets in virtually every village in Ireland, the existing ones are a rarity. Long may they last.

And they can last, and we can even resurrect some of the extinct markets if we act quickly. Ten years ago, the 1995 Casual Trading Act became law. It was designed to provide needed regulation of full-time street traders. However, the new administrative measures like licenses and permits it introduced have had a discouraging effect on the home baker, local artist, the farmer and the gardener who want to sell their wares at a local farmers’ market. The recent legislation also put fund-raising fairs and charity bazaars in limbo land.

Two court cases later, our right to sell our home-grown cabbages and homemade jams, soaps and candles for profit or charity through country markets has been confirmed as a right that has constitutional protection. Any village that has had a market in the past may be entitled to market rights. These rights may have to be regulated, as in the past, by the Health Act of 1878 not the Casual Trading Act of 1995. The Health Act is more appropriate and encouraging to local farmers’ markets.

So how do you know if your town has market rights? Almost every village does. To be sure, look at village place names. Is there a Fish Market Street or Market Square? Try to remember if you went to a market or fair in your town, or of being told of one by your parents or grandparents. If you don’t remember maybe someone else will. Ask. Look in town records. Check with the local history buff. If there ever was a market or ‘fayre’ they your village may have market rights. You don’t have to locate where the market was held or hold future markets where they were held in the past. It doesn’t matter. If the right is there it is there for the whole town as in Skibbereen. And don’t think if you live in the city market rights don’t apply to your area. It might be hard when trying to cross a road in busy Douglas to remember that it was once a small village district from Cork, but it was and most probably has market rights.

Don’t delay or you will find that the old rights have expired. The deadline is looming to find out if you can do this.

To lay claim to the rights, the village must hold a market before June 1st 2006. It is a short time and it might sound daunting but doesn’t have to be. A table with a basket of turnips and carrots will do. There must be a public announcement of the event. A hand written notice in a shop window or a couple of lines in the parish newsletter will do. If the market is held at least once a year for ten years your market rights are secure.

We live increasingly regulated lives. Retaining your local market rights is about keeping your local and personal options open. If our locality some day wants to be able to have an amateur fair, bazaar, fete or country market – whether for profit, charity or fun – at lest one person in each community needs to act right now. The situation is fluid but come June 1st, it may be set in stone.