THE PROCEDURE
- To exercise a Market Right all you must do is offer a commodity for sale to the public in the correct place, on the correct day. A stall set up for 5 minutes is enough.
- It would be preferable if you could have a known witness to the event. Other options would be to contact the Gardai and ask for a record to be made of your activity. Photographic evidence would be welcome and a photograph of you, with your stall in an easily recognisable area of the town and a copy of that day's paper should be sufficient.
- A Market Right exists for a certain day(s) in a certain place. The days are listed in "The Lists" and are the legal days given in the charter. Even if actual market trading happens on another day, it is highly advisable to exercise the right on the "legal" day(s) as well. If two or more days are mentioned in the same column of the list, then they are the same Market Right, if there are days in the "Other Market Right" column then they belong to another Market Right and should also be exercised. The place is generally the whole area of the city, town or village. It is always best to position yourself in the traditional market area or the historical centre of town.
- The List is compiled from the Reports of the Royal Commissioners in both 1852 and 1889-91. These are available in the National Library, as well as in Trinity and bits in the National Archives. They are acceptable in a court of law as evidence. We are relying on these for the information on the market rights, but there is the remote possibility that the local authority extinguished the Market Rights since these reports. We are only aware of two Local Authorities doing this at any stage. You should be aware that if you are convicted under the Casual Trading Act 1995 you could face a first fine of up to 63 euro. If you receive a conviction under the Casual Trading Act 1995 you may have problems getting a Casual Trading License!
- Post your experiences on our chat room here. Already this area has proved to be a very lively forum. It is really important, however, that if you are establishing a market right that you identify yourself for the good of the market community. Should you wish to maintain anonymity then email us here and we will ensure your privacy in this matter. Send as much information to this website. Send us as much as you can including photographs, letters and newspaper articles. Please, if you can, include your name and address. Alternatively post them to; Irish Market Rights, The Creamery, Toons Bridge, Macroom, Cork.
- We would like to express gratitude to the International Operators, Market and Street Traders who provided us with mail handling facilities through their office.