Work to start on the Iveagh Markets… hopefully? 

Work to repair structural damage to Dublin’s Iveagh Markets is scheduled to be contracted soon, according to a representative of Friends of the Iveagh Markets (FIM), who asked not to be named. 

“The tenders for the work are due to go out this week but don’t hold your breath – they were supposed to go out last September,” the FIM representative said.  

Full restoration of the markets has been delayed for many years due to a three-way legal dispute between Dublin City Council (DCC), hotelier Martin Keane, and the Guinness family. 

The FIM representative described the dispute as “a war of attrition” and added: “it’s back in the courts in April but unless the judge intervenes it will drag on. 

“If the dispute is solved this year, the probability is it will take anywhere from six to ten years to complete,” the FIM representative said. 

The Iveagh Markets were originally built by the Guinness family and gifted in 1906 to Dublin Corporation, which later became Dublin City Council. 

The Iveagh Markets were closed by DCC in the 1990s due to the building’s deteriorating condition. 

In 1996 Keane won the contract DCC to restore the markets – under the terms that once the markets were restored, their title and ownership would be given to Keane. 

Keane’s development was delayed by legal disputes and the recession in 2007-08. In 2012 Keane applied for a five-year extension on the contract which he was granted. His company continues to claim it is in a position to complete the redevelopment.

When the contract expired in 2017, and DCC took back control of the markets – only to have the Guinness family assert its position on the basis that terms of the original gift were not being met.