A group of vendors have vowed to picket the Dublin Castle Christmas Market next month as they claim that there was "no proper application process in place" as controversy has emerged over the selection of vendors for the event.
The hugely popular free festive event, 'Christmas at the Castle' takes place in the grounds of Dublin Castle and will run from December 8 to 21 with over 30 traditional alpine market stalls. Tickets for the market went all sale this morning Friday, 11 November via Dublin Castle's website.
However, there has been controversy surrounding the selection of vendors for this year's event. Several vendors have told Dublin Live this week that they were "very disappointed" after their stalls were not brought back for the market's line up this year, despite organisers telling them that the previous year's vendors would be given priority.
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The contract for vendors was given to Equinox Events for 2022.
Philip Gaffney is the founder and master craftsman of O'Gowna Studios based in Dublin, which creates beautiful hand-crafted Christmas ornaments and chess sets. Mr Gaffney told Dublin Live that there was "a lot of confusion" among vendors concerning this year's application process for the Christmas market.
Mr Gaffney, as well as several other vendors, have participated in the Dublin Castle Christmas Market for the past two years.
But this year, Mr Gaffney and other vendors claim that they were not made aware of the application process for this year's market, which they claim was "very unclear" and "did not prioritise vendors from the previous year."
He told Dublin Live: "I'm fuming to be honest, it's just so unfair. I've had stands in the Dublin Castle Market for two years in a row. Dublin Castle got onto me asking to get onto friends to take stands, and five of them took stands with me for the 14 days last year.
"The first year was €100 a day and the second year was €200 a day which I thought was a bit much, but I thought it was a good event," he added.
Mr Gaffney said that he gave feedback on his experience to last year's organisers Equinox Events and Dublin Castle over difficulties he faced during the market, like issues connecting with customers due to loud music.
In the two previous years, Mr Gaffney applied for a stall at the Christmas market after a call out notice was posted on the Design and Craft Council of Ireland's website.
For this year in 2022 a call out notice was published on Dublin Castle's website for interested vendors. Mr Gaffney said: "When we applied through the Dublin Castle website the day it was published on October 26 we were told it was full. I sent an email into Equinox Events shortly after the notice got published asking for more details on the stall.
"They responded that they were full with vendors, and I asked 'how can you be full when you literally only launched the event'? Then they came back and said they'd been contacting vendors since the summer for the Christmas market. Dublin Castle, the OPW and Equinox haven't outlined the criteria for the vendors' application for this year."
Mr Gaffney claims that the organisers never explained the selection process for this year. He said: "The selection process should be more clear and transparent."
Another vendor, Christopher White, who sells Christmas wreaths, also expressed his "deep disappointment" over his stall not being selected this year. He said: "Last year there was a lot of rules with Covid. But this year it's weird, like there's no room in the inn.
"Last year I bought a load of stuff thinking we'd be back again this year. Last year I had the organisers from Dublin Castle ringing me all the time. I don't know how they've closed shop and seem to be full with vendors very quickly now, it's deeply disappointing."
A third vendor who makes jewellery, Aisling, also expressed her disappointment over her stall not being brought back this year. She said: "It's a nightmare. I've lost thousands in sales from not getting to do this event."
Mr Gaffney currently has €15,000 worth of Christmas products that they were hoping to sell this year, most of which is left over from last year. He and the other vendors are now planning to protest "every day" at Dublin Castle for the duration of the market.
In an email to one of the vendors, shared with Dublin Live, Equinox Events confirmed on October 27, 2022 that they received submissions from vendors in the summer. In the email they said: "There is an element of curation involved and we are tasked with ensuring that a range of different products are offered from different vendors. We have been receiving submissions since late Summer so we prioritised those in order of application."
"Therefore, we are unfortunately not in a position to offer you a spot on this occasion. We do hope that we will be able to offer more notice in the future pending the OPW deciding to go ahead with the event."
Equinox Events declined to comment further when contacted by Dublin Live.
In a statement to Dublin Live, a spokeswoman for the Office of Public Works said: "The Office of Public Works (OPW) has no role in allocating spaces for vendors at the Dublin Castle Christmas market. The list of approved vendors has been examined by the OPW and it is considered that all successful applicants had fulfilled the requirements set out by the OPW in the request for tenders."
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