The Dublin Corporation Fish Market is likely to close in months because of safety fears about the roof, a member of Dublin Corporation development department has said.
But traders in the market and one local councillor believe the corporation is using the damaged roof as an excuse to close the market to make way for a development plan in the area.
Mr John Egan, administrative officer in the development department, said the cost of full repairs to the roof of the building, behind the Four Courts, would be over £1 million and the corporation would not put that amount into it. "We wouldn't be spending £1 million on replacing it [the roof]. Only one-third of the building is used and only for half a day."
He added: "It is looking likely we will have to close . . . I wouldn't think there'd be years in it. I would hope there would be another good few months."
Mr Egan said the market would stay open for the moment to allow traders time to relocate, and until then contractors would repair the roof to ensure it stayed intact for that duration. However, a new area had not been decided on as yet, Mr Egan said.
Relocating the fish market outside the city centre would create problems for buyers from restaurants, supermarkets and distributors who can easily access the fish market, said Mr Tommy O'Callaghan, chairman of the Dublin Fishmarket Wholesalers' Association.
"It would be a lot of hassle. A good few people involved in the market wouldn't survive," he said.
Staff working in the market might not want to relocate far outside the city as many lived close by.
A suggestion that both the fruit and vegetable and fish markets move out as far as the M50 would be resisted, he said.
Mr O'Callaghan said a survey carried out on the roof on behalf of the traders had shown that while urgent repairs were needed, it was structurally sound.
"There is no danger of it falling and killing someone," he said.
As Dublin Corporation was the land-owner of the fish market, it was the corporation's duty to ensure its upkeep, Mr O'Callaghan added.
While the roof had been cleaned and repaired and a new floor put in recent years, the corporation had not done any major work on the market, he said.
Mr Egan said he agreed with the finding of the traders' study that the roof was structurally sound but that the slates, wood and glass in it needed to be replaced.
Senator Joe Costello, a Dublin city councillor, said there was a "hidden agenda" in the contention that the market needed to be closed for safety reasons.
"It seems they were looking for this . . . To my mind the corporation are behaving scandalously," he said.
Discussions are continuing with traders in the fruit and vegetable markets to either relocate outside Dublin or to develop them in some way. Mr Costello said he believed the corporation wished to move the fish market also and used a damaged roof as an excuse.
Mr Brian O'Callaghan, who works with his father at the market, said it was strange the corporation was suddenly concerned about the roof. "We've been here so long and nothing has changed in the roof situation. It would just seem a bit farcical to come out with that now," he said.
Mr Egan said there was no other reason for closing the market apart from public safety and discussions for moving out all the markets or developing them was a long-term issue. Mr Costello, who sits on the board of that part of the city's Historic Area Rejuvenation Project (HARP), said the fish market would be an ideal building to develop as part of the project.
"I consider it contrary to the HARP project to close the market. The project is intended to be an integrated area plan to enhance existing structures rather than eliminate them and start from scratch," he said.
Mr Costello said he would be raising the closure of the fish market at the meeting of the HARP board later this month.