Selling Strawberries is illegal (in Waterford)

Wednesday July 16, 2003 15:42

by Mags

This has got me annoyed, hence todays rant:

Anyone who travels around the country in the early summer will be familiar with the strawberry sellers. They have wee little stalls and trailers on the roads into main towns and sell strawberries and new potatoes. The operation is run by a co-op of small farmers from Wexford and the stalls are staffed by teenagers making a few quid at the weekends. The growers only have a few weeks to get their produce sold before the supermarkets swamp us all with imported and cheaper produce. They are very popular where I am from and people look out for them to buy fresh produce and support small local enterprise.

Right.

In Waterford roadside strawberry vendors are facing arrest. Waterford County Council and Gardai are clamping down on them. The council claims that it has five areas for 'casual trading' and that sellers must use these and pay a licence, otherwise they will be arrested and prosecuted. The 'Director of Services' (what that?) for the County Council, a Martin Walsh, says he has received complaints from other 'established' traders and has contacted the Guards to take action against the strawberry selling kids.

Apparently it can take up to a year for a prosecution to go to court so Walsh says that the Guards can ask the person to move on and if they refuse the cops can take (i.e. steal) their goods and equipment.

So this is what the paper shufflers in the Council are investigating and what our tax payers money is being wasted on. Guards galloping around the countryside seizing soft fruit from teenagers and threatening them with criminal records for trying to make a few euro. Must be a very low crime rate in Waterford so.