Vol. 467 No. 3
102 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the plans, if any, she has to amend the classes of selling specified in section 2 (3) of the Casual Trading Act, 1995, with a view to exempting artists selling their work from the restrictions of the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13094/96]
The primary purpose of the Casual Trading Act, 1995, is to achieve greater decentralisation, efficiency and flexibility in the regulation of casual trading by the local authorities than was possible under the less flexible regime provided by the Casual Trading Act, 1980. Artists selling their work were not excluded from the scope of regulation under the 1980 Act.
As the Casual Trading Act, 1995, came into force on 1 May last and as local authorities are presently preparing bylaws for adoption under section 6 of the Act, I do not intend to exercise my powers under section 2 (3) of the Act at this stage. However, I should point out that under section 2 (4) of the Act local authorities are empowered to exempt categories of trading previously exempted under the Casual Trading Act, 1980, or to exempt any new categories of trading they may decide are appropriate for their own areas.
