Vendors and sauna operators to incur €1.4k licence fee to trade at several Cork beaches

The fee will help fund two community wardens to enforce litter rules and help provide more toilets

The €1,400 annual fee would mean it is up to six times more expensive in Cork for sauna operators and food and coffee vendors than some other counties in Munster. Picture: David Creedon

Sauna operators and food and coffee vendors will have to pay up to €1,400 a year for a licence to trade at several beach locations in Co Cork.

A recent by-law change will formalise these operators as part of an effort to “protect businesses” serving areas such as Fountainstown, Myrtleville, and other beach areas that usually attract large crowds during spells of hot weather.

The €1,400 annual fee would mean it is up to six times more expensive in Cork than some other counties in Munster.

The by-law, adopted earlier this month in the Carrigaline Municipal District, is the first of its kind in the county, with the other seven municipal districts expected to follow suit once the “Carrigaline process is complete”.

Cllr Audrey Buckley said the fee would help fund two community wardens to enforce litter rules and check vendors’ licences. It will also help provide more toilets in the areas.

She said the cost worked out at between €23 and €27 a week for vendors, with about 16 pitches available across the Carrigaline district.

“This money will pay for customers eating burgers or using saunas to have access to a toilet,” Ms Buckley told the Irish Examiner.

“It also means vendors will have to provide their own bins instead of relying on council bins. They will also have to use recyclable materials, so no more styrofoam,” she said.

Successful applicants will be granted a pitch for one year. “You can’t sell it, move it on or lend it to somebody else,” Ms Buckley said.

“It protects everyone. If I buy a pitch as a coffee vendor and you buy one as a burger vendor, you can’t suddenly hand yours over to another coffee vendor. That won’t be allowed. That’s part of protecting the people who have invested in their trade.” 

Ms Buckley said the beach locations offered strong footfall and good trading opportunities for vendors.

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She added that she understood that paying the levy in a lump sum could be difficult and said she would ask whether it could be paid in three or four instalments.

A Cork County spokesperson said the associated fees are “not intended as a revenue-generating measure, and have been calculated to cover the costs arising from these activities”. 

These include “the maintenance and upkeep of the public lands on which these services operate, the administration of the licensing system and the monitoring and enforcement of the by-laws".