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The operator of a Dublin canal boat restaurant ordered to stop selling take-out pizza received no explanation for an apparent U-turn in the ban, he said.
Shiful Islam, who runs La Peniche on the Grand Canal, said he was forced to dump 3,000 euros worth of fresh food when Gardaí told him to close hours after opening on March 25.
The chef said he was told he did not have a business license to sell food or soft drinks while the ship was stopped.
But Islam said that on Friday night, just over a week later, Waterways Ireland, which authorizes commercial activity on the canal, told him that he would be granted a temporary business license to continue his take-out business during the pandemic.
“We are happy to get back to work, that’s all we care about now,” Islam said, while making final preparations before reopening at 5pm on Saturday.
However, it added that there had been no explanation from Waterways Ireland for the turnaround.
“Last night I was talking to them and they told me that it can be changed, that it is fine,” he said.
Islam said it was “horrible” and “too much” that the Gardaí were sent to order it shut down, after he fitted the ship with pizza ovens so it could be traded as takeout food while canal travel is suspended under the restrictions Covid-19. .
Waterways Ireland previously said it “has a deep empathy” with commercial operators unable to operate due to the pandemic, but said it cannot support activities that violate the restrictions.
There was a “significant difference between a passenger ship that offered meals to a limited number of passengers” and a ship stopped moored “for the purpose of selling takeout to the public,” the cross-border body said Thursday.
He said he understood that a take-out business “trading from a ship in a fixed location” would require planning permission, but when “ships are moving, the activity does not require planning permission.”
Large numbers of people were congregating along the Grand Canal “leading to an increase in antisocial behavior, littering and affecting the physical integrity of the banks themselves,” he said at the time.
Waterways Ireland was contacted for comment.
When asked for a response, gardaí said it “does not comment on named persons / entities” or “on third party materials.”
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