STREET performers could be singing a new tune as Limerick City and County Council have opened a public consultation on bye laws aiming to balance preserving the quality of the lively busking scene while addressing noise and safety concerns.
Some on Shannonside think it strikes a positive note, others say it’s a bit out of tune.
Stefano Caltagirone, who has been busking on the Treaty streets since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, finds a suggested prohibition on amplifiers to be particularly tone deaf.
Stefano believes amplification is paramount for buskers, but acknowledges that “it doesn’t mean that it has to be loud”.
“You might have good amplification [which allows you to be] less loud than without amplification. If you perform in the street, you need a microphone, especially if you’re singing more than once or twice a week, otherwise it will completely ruin your voice,” he said.
The new bye laws would ban amplification without a granted exemption, which Stefano says would be detrimental to the quality of street performers.
“It’s not professional anymore. There’s just somebody screaming from a corner of a street and not not being heard by anybody except by whoever is passing a meter from him. Within half an hour you’re completely running out of voice.”
Much-loved and well known city accordion player Tom McNamara, Limerick’s longest-serving busker, had much more positive feelings on the council’s new strategy.
“It gets very noisy there,” he says. “I think busking should be left without an amplifier.”
“There’s no buskers around. There are amplifiers that pretend to be singing. That’s not busking.
“If a person wants to play, there should be only the player, and that’s it.”
The ban on amplification would also see backing tracks taken out of the audio mix.
Another proposed new restriction would prevent buskers performing in one place for more than two hours without relocating further than 100 metres.
“I think it is going in the wrong direction because there’s no other place probably in the world that has what Ireland has with the buskers. People are even coming to Ireland to see buskers. They expect quality. If they put certain laws like this in place … the whole thing is failing then.” Stefano told the Limerick Post.
The new bye laws will carry a fine ranging from €75 to €150, and would also prevent buskers from playing within 100 metres of one another.
The local authority is seeking submissions on the proposed new bye laws before August 12.
Submissions can be sent in writing to Cathal Brodie, Senior Executive Scientist, Environment Strategy, County Hall, Dooradoyle, V94WV78 or by email to [email protected].
All submissions must include the name and address of the person/organisation making the submission.
