Dublin City Council (DCC) to embark on ‘market sounding exercise’ over plans to transform the city’s Victorian-era fruit and vegetable market into a place for product retail food inside.
he city council has had a building permit since 2015 to transform the Mary’s Lane market, near the Four Courts, into a facility that rivals the English market in Cork or the Covent Garden market in London.
It has now launched a new process “to gather industry views on the feasibility of building a retail food market,” according to a public information notice released in recent days.
“The project would include the financial provision, conservation and upgrading works necessary for the building, landscaping and associated infrastructure to enable commercial use in this protected structure,” he said, adding that it now envisages “a design, a construction, the financing and the functioning of the market is a possible contractualization solution”. DCC added that it was “open to exploring any other proposals that would meet the Council’s market objectives”.
The € 3 million development would see just under half of the 6,000m² building used for wholesaling, with the rest being used for the food market.
Last August, the town hall launched a call for tenders to find an operator for the food market. But some advisers have argued that a private sector operator would likely price small vendors of fruit and vegetables in favor of a more expensive high-end offering.
The council said last week that ‘the reinvented market will respect its past and showcase the best of Irish food producers. It will be an exciting and vibrant community of food producers, food for now and fresh produce. It will have a philosophy of direct links between production and the consumer, as well as an international element ”.
