THE flower sellers of Grafton Street have said they “won’t be moving” and demanded an apology from the major landlord who suggested they should be banned.
HECF Grafton, a multinational real estate firm, asked Dublin City Council to ban street traders from operating along most of Grafton Street to reduce “street clutter”.
HECF, one of the largest landlords on Grafton Street, own a number of buildings in the area including Fields jewellers, Hickey’s pharmacy, Zara, H&M, Warehouse and Nespresso.
Speaking with RTE’s Liveline with Joe Duffy, two traders expressed their upset at the suggestion.
‘HOW DARE THEY’
Christine Dempsey, 60, has been working on the stalls since she was nine and her family’s history of trading on the street goes back 200 years.
She said they could “do or say what they like” but she would not be moving.
Christine explained: “I think it’s disgraceful, how dare they, we’re over 200 years in this street and how dare they. Who do they think they are?
“I won’t be moving for nobody and they can do and say what they like, I ain’t going nowhere.
“What about all the years I worked in it all my life, that means nothing? Just because they own the buildings, is it all about rich people now, what they want?”
‘WE CAUSE COLOUR’
Another flower seller on the street, Catherine Claffey, who’s been working there nearly 40 years, said that the multinational property firm “owe” the women an apology.
She said: “I think they should they owe us an apology to say that we are causing clutter?
“We don’t cause clutter we cause colour on Grafton Street, the only thing we cause.
“People take photographs of us all day long, I mean who’s going to be taking photographs of clutter?”
Catherine told the show that while the company may own many properties around Grafton Street “they don’t own Dublin.”
She told the show that the company were “chancing their arm” and that an apology was owed for their “insulting remarks”.
Catherine added: “These people are just chancing their arm as far as I’m concerned.
“They’d be telling you how to breathe, if they could. Who do they they think they are?
“They owe us an apology, that’s what they owe us, for insulting remarks they’ve made about us,
“That have been on the street a lot longer than they have been and we’ll be on it a lot longer when they’re gone.”
‘AS DUBLIN AS MOLLY MALONE’
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Listeners also called into the show to express their anger with HECF’s proposals and showing their support for the women.
One listener said that this was an attempt to ‘gentrify and sanitise’ the city of its culture.
He said: “These women are as much a fixture on Grafton Street as Brown Thomas is.”