There are changes on the way for the Bushy Park market

On Monday evening, there were a few cars and a big green tractor parked outside the small cottage in Bushy Park beside the gated entrance at Templeogue Road. 

The cottage, a council-owned depot surrounded by trees, was locked. 

Among other uses, the depot is relied upon by the traders who come to Bushy Park market every Saturday, says Green Party Councillor Carolyn Moore. 

“The market currently operates with access to parking for traders in the depot,” she says.

That may change soon though. Dublin City Council has proposed moving the market to another location within Bushy Park. 

Local councillors say that any move would harm the weekly event by making it less visible and make the logistics more of a challenge for traders if they are moved further from the depot. 

The idea of moving the market is prompted, mostly, by health and safety concerns, a council spokesperson said on Tuesday. 

But it is also being considered as the council prepares a tender for operators for eight markets across council-owned parks, including Bushy Park.

The new location – where exactly isn’t clear – is more suitable, the spokesperson said. “The new location is better serviced with essential utilities and will have less impact on the mature trees in the park.”

Fine Gael Councillor Punam Rane put a motion in at the South East Area Committee, asking the council to reconsider the move. 

The market has helped to rejuvenate the area, according to Rane, who said she had been approached by the market’s operators to raise the matter at the meeting. 

“We should at least reconsider moving it, unless there is consultation or proper meetings held with the women who’ve run it for a number of years,” she said.

The operators of the Bushy Park markets said they didn’t want to comment on the possible move.

Tendering

Social Democrats Councillor Noelle Brown had already raised questions about moving Bushy Park market, at the full council meeting on 7 April.

In a question to the Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare, Brown asked about the status of the move to a spot beside the tennis courts.

The market runs at the moment on the north-west side of the park by Templeogue Road. The spot mentioned by Brown is in the north-east of the space on the opposite end of the curving Rathdown Avenue.

In her question, Brown wrote that lack of access to the depot car park would mean traders’ vans would be parked in the street, creating conflict with market visitors. 

Storing generators would be a problem too, she said. “The move would not only make operations significantly more difficult, but would also increase weekly costs for traders, making it harder for the market to continue as it is.”

According to a council spokesperson, the council is currently preparing a tender for operators for markets across council-owned parks, including the one at Bushy Park.

The tender is divided up into eight different lots, they said, meaning each could be won by a different operator. 

This tender should be advertised in the third quarter of 2025, they said.

Shakespeare, the council CEO, in his response to Brown, said that procurement rules mean they have to advertise the market locations for tender.

He didn’t address the location change at Bushy Park. Instead, he said that any proposed changes to the market’s location would be detailed in the tender itself.

That tender would seek clarity from operators on how to address issues such as waste management, sustainability, power generation, health and safety, and traffic management, he said.

Health and safety

On 11 May at the South East Area Committee, Rane, the Fine Gael councillor, tabled a motion asking that the council keep the Bushy Park market where it is right now.

Cornelia Raftery, a council executive parks superintendent, said they were considering a few locations. 

They had met with the owners of the market to discuss this, she said. And, the market is to stay where it is until the procurement process is done, she said. 

The council’s rationale for moving it, though, was safety, she said. “Health and safety is becoming more of an issue all the time, especially with works depots.”

Traders use the depot car park and could keep using half of it in theory, she said, but the gates do need to be locked.  “The gates have been left open at the moment.”

The works section, which connects right into the park, needs to be locked off, she said, although they can use the front section which opens out onto Rathdown Avenue. 

“They can’t be using the whole depot. The actual working section of the depot will have to be separated. No access to traders unfortunately,” she said.

Its visibility along the road was really enticing, said Labour Councillor Fiona Connelly. “I really like where it is at the moment.”

Raftery agreed. It is lovely, she said. “Where it may possibly move to is just as lovely and just as public, and you can still see it from the road.”

It’s not moving that far, she said. “If it does move. It’s not been finalised yet.”

Raftery said that slight issues had been raised around the different uses clashing with each other. “Our staff were coming out in their vehicles and kind of interacting in an unpleasant way with the general public.”

Perhaps the council was also a bit lax sometimes on the safety involved in having a works depot, she said. “Think of it as a building site. We cannot have general public coming in.”