FOR BUSINESSES, PEDESTRIANS and musicians fed up with some buskers garnishing their output with lurid karaoke-style accompaniment, help could be at hand.
Dublin City Councillors are voting on proposals to ban backing tracks for street performers across the city, as part of new proposals to amend the street performance by-laws introduced last year.
The proposals, seen by TheJournal.ie, have also extended the area of Temple Bar in which amplification has been banned.
Buskers on Grafton Street will now need to end their performance on the hour-mark, similar to other cities, if the proposals are approved at tonight’s council meeting.
New buskers will have a two-week probationary period, while permits for activities such as caricature painting, hair-braiding, and temporary tattoos cannot now be obtained under the by-laws
Public performances remain prohibited outside the GPO and in parts of Temple Bar, although it has been proposed that acoustic performance will be allowed on East Essex Street.
Amplification
Amplification, wind instruments and percussion instruments are all verboten in Temple Bar, however, in an area extended from Essex Street East as far as Anglesea Street.
Their use will still be permitted around the city, subject to decibel limits.
A “detailed consideration” of the prohibition of amplification at certain locations is due to take place later this year.
Over on Grafton Street, the proposals ban dance acts, circle acts and large bands between Nassau Street and the junction of St Stephen’s Green and South King Street, although these acts will be allowed at the St Stephen’s Green end of the street.
Vincent Norton. acting assistant chief executive at Dublin City Council, who authored the review, said:
A constant quandary in this issue is the many divergent views on street performance and the difficulty in achieving reasonable consensus or balance between those who enjoy the animation and vibrancy of street performance and those who view it as an annoyance and an irritant.
More than 470 performance permits and 250 amplification permits have been issued since the by-laws were introduced in February 2015.
Graft on, buskers - graft on
Last year, Dublin City Council restricted buskers to two hours, but it is now being proposed that the time be cut to just one hour on Grafton Street – with all performances now beginning and ending on the hour-mark.
On pedestrianised streets which allow access to deliveries (such as Grafton Street), buskers would now also not be allowed to play before 11am, rather than the previous 9am starting point.
The new proposals would ban backing tracks in their entirety, addressing the biggest concern of businesses, residents and bona fide buskers alike: that some street performers are just playing along to quasi-karaoke tracks.
The proposals also instruct street performers who sing or play music to ensure they have a sufficient repertoire of tunes to play without repetition for at least 30 minutes.
The sale of CDs and other merchandise, meanwhile, are to be considered as part of a review of Dublin City Council’s casual trading by-laws.
If approved by City Council, the revised street performers by-laws will come into effect on 1 August 2016.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say