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TEMPLE BAR RESIDENTS have welcomed Dublin City Council’s work in drafting new bye-laws for buskers in the area – but say they are concerned at the idea of a complete ban.
The residents’ association wants to see regulations put in place by local authorities, but that does not necessarily require a ban, they say.
The council is due to vote on draft bye-laws next week which could see buskers moved from Temple Bar to Grafton Street.
The new rules would ban buskers from both the GPO and the entire Temple Bar area, if passed.
“Residents have been calling for regulation for busking for years but we would not be in favour of an outright ban,” said the group’s secretary Declan O’Brien.
He told TheJournal.ie that the situation had escalated over the 12 years he has been living in the quarter.
“We’ve seen the musical equivalent of a nuclear arms race as bands use bigger and louder amplifiers and full scale drum kits to dominate spaces.
“Twelve years ago, we had bongos, now we have acts employing portable generators enabling them to play for up to eight hours.”
O’Brien and other residents say they are actually trying to stand up for the “traditional acoustic busker”, as well as themselves and local businesses.
Buskers are integral to the spirit of the area, but the past few years has seen a prevalence of bands using excessive amplification and percussion.
“A good busker is one of the perks of living in the area, but the large scale bands that have appeared over the past few years are making them a dying breed.”
Instead of a complete ban, the residents would like to see amps and drums prohibited and a limit put on the use of trumpets, tubas, trombones and other brass instruments.
They have also called for busking to be confined to designated areas such as Crown Alley, Meeting House Square and Temple Bar Square between the hours of noon and 10pm.
The laws drafted by the council – and to be voted on next week – would mean buskers would have to apply for a €30 permit to perform in the city centre. The cost would increase by €60 for permission to use amplification.
The proposed bye-laws, seen by TheJournal.ie, would also ban all busking from the city centre after 11pm except on Grafton Street. On that thoroughfare, singing and playing will be allowed until 1am on Saturdays and Sundays.
If passed, buskers will have to move at least 250 metres every two hours and they will not be allowed to reserve areas.
Reaction to the possible ban was greeted with criticism on social media yesterday.
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The Residents proposal sounds perfectly reasonable and surely their views along with the business community are the only ones that should count.
I’ll never understand these folk who purchase residential property in places like Templebar and then complain about noise. What did they expect like.
Still less ridiculous than people who purchase property next to large international stadia and then hold the country to ransom when events are proposed for this incredibly large venue towering over their house. Maybe they thought Croker was a church named in honour of the bishop or something like that.
Do what they do in London on the tube… Make them audition to busk in the Temple Bar, St Stephens green, Grafton St area…
Some great artists and musicians I’m happy to throw a few pounds at instead of a tone def beatbox version of the fields of Athenry making my ears bleed.
And please please please while they are it it ban the chuggers…
They’ll try and ban the junkies and the beggars next…
Best of luck with that…..
Temple bar has residents?!
Just ban the amps.
So the council kinda listen to the residents – ok we’ll ban amps unless we get paid €60 then make as much noise as you want…
I’ve buddies who live in temple bar and were tortured by bands playing at full volume right outside their door up to nearly midnight.
One evening they noticed that a powercut set off the really loud alarm on the building outside.
They waited a month or two until the band was being completely obnoxious and had a huge crowd gathered. They tripped the switch in their apartment, the alarm went off, and the tourists scattered in all directions.
After a few vain attempts to battle the competing noise, the band gave up for the night.
My friend only resort to this occasionally it if it’s really bad, but from first hand experience, it’s immensely satisfying..
What a silly place to choose to live in.
As someone who busks from time to time, I think the banning of amps isn’t entirely a bad idea. It would actually make for a better and fairer experience for other buskers because then they could stand 50 metres away and not be competing with those who have generators & amps. This would allow for more diversity/more buskers in a smaller space. At the very least, if using amps, having them at a volume that only just slightly amplifies an does drown out the whole street.
I used to use an amp, microphones, the lot, but more often than not you’d make more money and got more attention from stripping it back to pure acoustic.
Instead of making a noisey street noisier, playing without amps can sometimes make more people listen, and if you get a crowd who stop and listen it proves you can preform well in the rawest possible way, and teaches you how to project your voice.
Moving after 2 hours seems like a good idea to allow more diversity aswell.
I have no issue with any band setting up anywhere as long as it’s not late at night outside a normally quiet venue or in a public part of a residential area at peculiar hours. We must stem the flow of Justin Biebers by any cost metal/rock will return to save us from Simon Cowell
Metal & rock have been taking their sweet ass time; I think the hour may be upon us where we begin to discuss final solutions to this out of control problem. Would anyone honestly miss Cowell or Bieber if we decided to send them off to “entertainment” camps? We could even make a reality TV show about their interactions in the labour, sorry I mean entertainment camps – it might be funny and we could even have music. Oh god, they’ve got me, I’ve become one of them – any room left on the train old chap?
There’s always room for one more !
Music is seriously sh!te these days with the exception of a handful of bands.
The place is a zoo anyway. Build a wall round it and charge an entrance fee.
Call it Paddyworld.
Dublin City Council have announced that in the future buskers will have to apply for a license to busk..
Why are you living in temple bar if you don’t want buskers . These idiots are never not crying about something . From the same mould as the Croke park residents
Dublin Johnny
I live very close to Croke park and like the majority of residents have no problem with the games or concerts it’s a comparatively small minority who make all te noise. And to keep the record straight residents don’t receive cash from Croke or the GAA money is given to local residential schemes activities, there are only a limited number of free tickets and finally the catchment area for those eligible for tickets is small.
Busk up to a certain hour. But banning certain instruments over others is a bit backward. Who is going to audition these in dcc. We are turning music into acoustic balladeers and not enough variety. Instead of banning amplification why don’t they ban 3 chord tricksters.
Buskers are great on shop street in Galway but lately they’re bringing amps & microphones which is annoying. It defeats the whole purpose of busking…..
I say we just take off and nuke Temple Bar from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure…
More regulations = Less and bad quality public space.
as long as it puts a stop to the accordion players who have one tune played badly and played continously
The proposed bye-laws… would also ban all busking from the city centre after 11pm except on Grafton Street?????????? aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh – Why should Grafton St become a dumping ground for bad amplified buskers?
Shop owners or residents generally don’t have an issue with buskers from what I can see. it’s simply the amplification of busking and the use of ipods as backing tracks that is the issue. That’s not busking its karaoke.
All that has been achieved with this is to move the buskers on to Grafton Street and any busker with regard for others is being banned unnecessarily, including traditional players. For f*ck sake DCC you don’t need a consultant to tell you to BAN THE AMPS!!!!!!!
Hi. I don’t live in Dublin but I write and publish on the subject of street culture. Noise is a big issue in all the great cities of the world. What I have learned in covering these places is that each area has its own needs. The Temple bar residents have the right idea when they point out that what works on Grafton Street might not be the same as where they live. The real problem arises when a City council gets lazy and wants to make one law for the whole city.
Each area should decide things as detailed as a time limit for each artist. Or decide amplification in one or 2 spots only. Some areas of a city may be better off without any regulations at all. My observation also is that most areas should be off limits to regulation if you want your city to have the freedom to develop the kind of talent it is capable of.
I thought they already brought in a law specifying the power of amps that may be used while busking. If a band or individual is noticeably loud then have them removed. Remove buskers altogether and you remove the soul of the city or town. I’d be more worried about old weirdos dressed like freaks and dancing oddly ruining our reputation.
A music tax….good thinking
No distractions, get the folks into the €6.80 pint pubs quickly, oh but if you want to pay us a special licence fee welll continue on.
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