Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022
88. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the negotiations between his Department and Moore Street market traders for compensation; if he will provide details on any relevant correspondence; and the times and dates of meetings. [22205/22]
View answerThe May 2021 report of the Moore Street Advisory Group recommended that an adequate and appropriately structured compensation package should be put in place for the Moore Street traders as soon as possible. My Department was at no time directly engaged in talks with the traders. My Department had engaged in some limited preliminary talks, led by Dublin City Council, regarding compensation for the traders for a range of separate schemes of works to be carried out by different parties in the area, each of which would disrupt the traders’ business.
While the report of the MSAG did not explicitly mention the State participating in any compensation package for traders, the State itself will be carrying out very substantial development works on the National Monument at No’s. 14-17 Moore Street. In that context, and against that background, it is axiomatic that the recommendation of the MSAG report for a compensation scheme for street traders for disruption and disturbance also contemplated the work by the State.
It should be stressed that any compensation that might be provided by the Department would be solely in respect of works at the national monument which fronts fully on to Moore Street and the area where the street traders do their business.
