Bad Day in Bantry

Friday morning, January 11th, market day in Bantry, West Cork.

Except there are no marketeers.

Down in the Slip car park, cordoned off by county council vans, a disconsolate bunch of market traders reveal that they have been informed by gardai that setting up their pitches in their usual places around the Square in the centre of town will lead to their goods and vehicles being impounded.

Uptown, in front of the ESB office, Toby Simmonds of the Real Olive Co. is the one trader prepared to counter the threat of having his goods and chattels impounded. Mr Simmonds sets up his stall because he believes that the ancient market trading rights in the town, which allow him to set up wherever he likes, have not been extinguished, and so the council's attempt to regulate casual trading by creating a designated area at the Slip car park at the far end of the town is irrelevant.

At 11.05am, Mr Jerome O'Sullivan, Administrative Officer from Clonakilty, and Mr Frank O'Donovan, Area Engineer for the Council in Bantry, inform Mr Simmonds that he is not trading in a casual trading area, such as the council has designated. They give Mr Simmonds until 12.15 to remove his stall and umbrellas, at which time the Gardai will come along and may impound his goods and vehicle. Mr Simmonds stresses that the market trading rights, upon which he bases his right to trade, have not been extinguished.

Mr O'Sullivan and Mr O'Donovan then walk over to a small stall on the Square where Madeline McKeever is selling her organic vegetables. They inform Ms McKeever that she is permitted to trade in the Square as she is selling home-made produce.

12.15; Mr Simmonds is still trading.
12.45: 3 Gardai take up positions across from the Real Olive Co. stall.
12.50: Gardai talk to Mr Simmonds and explain that they will seize his van in 15 minutes.
1.15pm: a County Council van backs up behind the stall. A Guard approaches the stall. Mr Simmonds serves a customer.
1.20: the van reverses beside the stall, and opens its rear doors. Gardai take the first barrel of olives and place them in the van. Mr Simmonds asks if the olives can be placed in his own van. Gardai refuse. Mr Simmonds explains that he will be unable to sell the food after it has been placed in the Council van.
1.27: the first van is filled with barrels of olives. It is driven away, and replaced by a second van.
1.40: the second van is full, and is driven away.
1.41: a third van backs up, and is filled by Gardai.
1.50: the third van is filled with olives and dismantled umbrellas, and is driven way.
1.52: Mr Simmonds' stall tables are dismantled and placed onto a fourth Council vehicle, a tarmac lorry.
1.56: the tarmac lorry drives off. All the goods and Mr Simmonds' takings for the day have been impounded.
1.58: Mr Simmonds drive his van off.

January 18th: there are no traders in Bantry. Mr Simmonds is still working on an application for an injunction to restrain the Council.

January 25: there are no traders on the Square in Bantry. In the Slip car park, one lady sells cakes and buns from the back of a small van. Two other female traders struggle to erect their canopy against the wind whipping in off the harbour. No other traders are selling.

Thursday January 31st: Mr Simmonds is granted an injunction preventing Cork County Council from disturbing him whilst trading in Bantry.

February 1st: Mr Simmonds and other casual traders brave the elements to trade in Bantry

February 7th: Cork County Council will present its side of the case in response to Mr Simmonds' temporary injunction.

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