Dublin street trading rules set for biggest shake-up in over a decade

Dublin City Council is proposing its first major overhaul of street trading bye-laws since 2013, sparking debate among councillors over proposed bans on items like alcohol as well as the use of discriminatory language

Add to preferred sources News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 20:22, 07 Oct 2026 View Image A market trader arranges her fruit and vegetable display on a stall in Moore Street (Image: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Dublin City Council may explicitly ban alcohol, vapes, illicit cigarettes, and knock-off goods under strict new street trading rules.

The bye-laws relating to casual trading in Dublin city are due to change for the first time since 2013. At Monday’s monthly council meeting, representatives were presented with a draft document of expanded and new-bye laws that can better align with how city life has changed in the years since.

While the prior rules merely prohibited the sale of “counterfeit items,” the proposal is to expand this to explicitly ban the sale of “contraband, tobacco, vaping products, alcohol, pharmaceutical products, and drug paraphernalia”. This is just one of 43 bye-laws that would regulate causal trading across the city.

The proposed bye-laws are now due to go out to public consultation for a period of eight weeks before being amended and brought back for approval. Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan welcomed aspects such as agents who are family members being able to inherit a stall if they worked on it for two years instead of four, as well as steps put in place to prohibit aggressive, discriminatory or offensive behaviour.

Not everything in the report was well received however, as Cllr Mannix Flynn said the language within it felt discriminatory toward street traders themselves. Coming from a family of street traders, he said the document "stigmatises and labels” sellers while implying they are more likely to sell counterfeit goods.

A new proposed bye-law states: “ Dublin City Council reserves the right to refuse to issue a licence to persons convicted of offences relating to the sale of counterfeit goods in the previous three years.”

Cllr Flynn said “the idea that casual traders would automatically engage in counterfeit goods is not good enough” and that documents relating to other trades would never have such language in them. “I think the document is a big failure which doesn’t acknowledge that Dublin City Council, over the past 40 odd years, diminished street trading and closed down a number of markets,” he said.

The banning of the sale of alcohol was also questioned by Green Party Cllr Janet Horner who wondered how it might impact the sale of mulled wine at Christmas markets. Dublin Live has contacted the council to outline the details surrounding the alcohol ban.

Green Party Cllr Donna Cooney also argued against banning the sale of “a small amount of alcohol,” and pointed out oyster stalls whose trade would be impacted if they couldn’t also sell a glass of wine.

Proposed re-designations could also have an effect on street traders and local markets, with Sinn Féin Ciaran Ó Meachair asking about potential changes at Newmarket in the Liberties. This is an area with a long history of street trading that he said has already experienced significant gentrification and a loss of identity . He expressed concern that proposed changes could add to this.

Ultimately, the new street trading bye-laws are currently in the planning stages and nothing is set in stone. The public will soon have an opportunity to put forward their views and the full draft document can be found here .

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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