The redevelopment of the Victorian inner city fruit, vegetable and flower market on St Mary’s Lane in Dublin was recently given the green light after Dublin City Council agreed to borrow €30 million to ensure the project goes ahead.
Six years after its closure and after countless calls for a permanent market space to be established in Dublin 7, it is set to reopen “following an extensive refurbishment and fit-out programme”. It has been the aim of the council to have the market open by the autumn of next year but that may be pushed out to 2027.
The Irish Times was given a tour of the building by Dublin City Council’s Siobhán Maher and discussed plans getting under way with flower seller Joseph Duffy, Sinn Féin councillor Janice Boylan – whose grandmother comes from a long line of traders – and John Fitzgerald, board member of the Spade Enterprise Centre.
The new market will host a range of food producers with a “quintessentially Dublin” focus, previously outlined by chief executive officer Richard Shakespeare.
The new facility will be a “quintessentially Irish food market” operating seven days a week to “support the city’s north retail core and highlight the food offer to locals and visitors alike”, the council said. Shoppers can “do their weekly food shop, or dine on-site at the restaurant or traders stalls.”
