The council will keep prices lower at this year’s Smithfield Christmas market, official says

Labour Councillor Fiona Connelly wasn’t particularly nostalgic earlier this week, when she recalled her visit to the Smithfield Christmas market at the end of last year.

She had brought both her own children and a local football team to the ice rink, she said. “And the prices were really expensive. Prohibitively expensive.”

Friends told her they had felt fleeced, she said. “We’re trying to get people into the city and we need to be conscious about making it affordable.”

It’s several months since, but an issue that Dublin City Council is aware of as its events team looks ahead to this coming Christmas, said David Forde, manager of the City Coordination Office, at a council meeting on Monday.

“Lessons learned there,” said Forde, of the pricing complaints. 

Private operator Novasphere Ltd organised the market. But neither it, nor its parent company Jordan Events – a United Kingdom-based catering company – responded to queries in December about why it had to charge high prices. 

Alex O’Neill, co-founder of the Filipino food stall Bahay, says the council should be conscious of the damage that can be done if markets get a bad reputation.

It can harm independent traders in markets elsewhere in the city, says O’Neill. “It makes everyone think that, like, all markets are rip-offs.

Big business to the rescue

At the market on Smithfield’s plaza last December, loaded fries with different toppings cost between €12 and €18.

A cup of dark hot chocolate went for €10. Plain muffins and waffles were €7 apiece. 

Novasphere Ltd had applied to Dublin City Council for an outdoor events licence on 16 August 2024.

The proposal for the Christmas Spectacular said that it was a self-funded operation with support from the council and would assist in the city’s recovery by having an economic impact in the area of €2 million.

The council promoted the event at the time, Forde, the manager of the council’s City Coordination Office, said at the meeting Monday.

In its application, Novasphere Ltd outlined its plans for an ice rink, Christmas stalls and food kiosks, as well as an indoor dining area with mulled wine and cider.

The event, listed as Christmas Spectacular, was to occupy the square between 15 November and 2 January.

On 17 October, the council issued a notice of decision, approving the event.

It was a private commercial event, a spokesperson for the council said in December. “A licence was granted by Dublin City Council permitting Novasphere Ltd to produce their event. There was no contract or tender.”

O’Neill, the cofounder of Bahay, had been contacted in October with details of the event and what operators would need to do, she said late last year.

But it wasn’t feasible for her, she says. Operating between 11am and 9pm daily was a deterrent for her, she says. 

Small independent stalls struggle to carry big overhead costs like paying for loads of stock or refrigeration, she says. “Larger companies like these have their own articulated fridge vans.”

“We don’t have the same staffing levels,” she said. “We don’t have the ability to bring a temporary village to somewhere for a couple of weeks.”

Lessons learned

At a meeting of the council’s Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Art and Culture Strategic Policy Committee on Monday, the hefty pricing at the Christmas festival came back to some councillors.

The matter arose during a presentation by Forde about the city recovery and rejuvenation projects being led by the Coordination Office since it was established by the council following the November 2023 riots.

Independent Councillor Vincent Jackson said he was horrified by the costs at the market.

If a private company uses public space, the event needs to be affordable, he said. 

“There has to be some sort of a recognition that we do live in a city with all sorts of people, with all sorts of demographics, with all sorts of profiles of people’s ability to pay,” said Jackson.

That event didn’t consider working-class people at all, he said. “The costs were prohibitive, so much so that our own Sports Development officers couldn’t use it for anything.”

They instead used the skating rink up in Blanchardstown, he said. “That shouldn’t be the case when we try to animate parts of the city and bring people in.”

Forde said the council had linked in with some north inner-city groups, he said. “But point noted.”

They had taken a punt and learnt some lessons, he said. They need to figure out if the council can better control that going forward, he said. 

The Christmas Spectacular was among many markets that the City Coordination Office is involved in promoting, said Forde.

There’s the Henry Street–Mary Street Christmas Market and non-seasonal ones in Temple Bar’s Meeting House Square and Moore Street, he said.

The council’s events department is planning another market in Smithfield this year and addressing the problem with prices that Connelly highlighted, he said. “But again, I think overall it was very positive for the city.”