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The Green Party has called for
farmers' markets in every city and town in Ireland. Speaking at the
weekly Sunday Market in the Peoples' Park in Dún Laoghaire, Green
Party leader Trevor Sargent TD stated that local authorities and the
Department of the Environment needed to get more involved in
encouraging and nurturing markets. Deputy Sargent was accompanying
local Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe on a walkabout of the Dún
Laoghaire Dáil constituency.
Green party Leader Trevor Sargent
TD stated:"Both single day and permanent food markets are of
huge importance to our quality of life, to our city and town
economies, to the future of our agricultural and rural development
and to our tourism.
"We have always believed that it is
the responsibility of our local governments to provide markets for
our citizens in all our cities and major towns. We still have a lot
of work to do in this area. I am delighted to see Dublin City
Council working on plans for a permanent food market in the old city
markets of Capel Street to rival that of the excellent English
Market in Cork city. Our own Green Mayor of Galway, Niall O
Brolchain, has just a few weeks ago put down a motion in Galway City
Council to examine the possibility of turning the Hynes Yard car
park on the Galway Docks into a permanent covered food market.
"We as citizens should have the right to access our local and
national produce and have the right to make choices on what food we
choose to purchase. There's also the fun and the social aspect of a
good market. Here we can meet people, stop for a chat or get to know
the producers and stall holders. These simple pleasures are
disappearing by the advance of anonymous neon lit supermarkets and
characterless bland convenience stores where the food on offer and
its quality, not to mention its excess packaging is dictated to us
by a few large faceless companies.
"Markets provide an opportunity for
our chefs and restaurants to sample local produce and include them
in their menu's and therefore are of great importance to the future
of our culinary heritage. Indeed markets are also very important for
the future of tourism in this country. Imagine if you were a visitor
to Ireland today and you stumbled onto this excellent market, you
would defiantly go home with a better impression of our food culture
that if you only got to eat in some of our less caring hotels!
Local Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire Ciarán Cuffe stated:
"What is particularly great about this market is that it is one of
several that are being run directly by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County
Council. Markets provide us with the choice to buy quality local
produce from producers without huge overheads.
"Markets provide an opportunity for our farmers and indeed us city
folk to create new businesses without incurring the huge expense of
renting premises in our towns and cities. The rents now in our
capital city are now so high that only large chains and
multinationals can afford them. When we look and the new and
exciting food companies that have set up around the country in
recent years many of them were born out of a simple stall on a
Saturday or Sunday market. Companies like The Real Olive Company,
Valerie Kingston's Glen Ellen cheesecakes and Fingal Ferguson's
Gubbeen Bacon all came from markets in Co. Cork, companies like the
Kappa Ya Japanese food , Sheridan's Cheesemongers and Cait Curran's
organic vegetables in Galway and here in Dublin the Soul Bakery,
Denis Healy's organic vegetables and Jane Russell sausages: the list
goes on and on.
"The Green Party wants to ensure that every large town has at least
weekly market and that every city has a permanent covered fulltime
market from Derry to Sligo; Tralee to Waterford. In our towns it is
not enough for the local authority to begrudgingly give permission
to set up in an obscure corner or old car park. We want proactive
authorities who realise it is their duty to create and sustain
markets. We want access to water and electricity provided. If a
council can build a toilet in a city square surely it is not that
difficult to provide a kiosk that can be opened on market day to
supply hot water and energy sockets. There are many beautiful town
squares in this country that would come to life on market day and
many shopkeepers that would benefit as well!" |
CiaranCuffe.com