Buskers and street entertainers need to be regulated with measures including minimum distance from the public and a maximum on decibel levels, according to a Cork city councillor.
Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn, right, will introduce a motion to Cork City Council which includes 15 points to which he wants buskers and street performers to adhere to.
One of his recommendations is that musical performers on the streets “must have a musical repertoire of at least 20 songs in order to avoid repetition of the same song or piece of music”.
They must also have name tags, according to Cllr O’Flynn.
Other recommendations include:

• That performers will only use amplifiers of no greater power than 15 watts.
• That several amp free zones are to be established within the City for a three month trial period.
• That street performers maintain proximity of no closer than 50 meters.
• That buskers must ensure that the volume is never allowed to have a negative effect on a business or to cause annoyance to a private residence.
• Performers will not act, dress, say or do anything that is likely to cause alarm or distress to any member of the public, business owner, Cork City Council staff or the Gardaí.

Cllr O’Flynn has also called for a ban on performers selling merchandise on the street.
He said that this was a breach of casual trading by-laws but that members of the public would still be free to make donations to the performers.
He said that performers should only be permitted to play between the times of 11am and 11pm and that they themselves should be responsible for crowd control.
If the motion is passed, Cllr O’Flynn has called for any performer who continuously flouts the motion to be subject to legal proceedings from Cork City Council.
The motion is not on Monday night’s agenda but is expected to be put to councillors within weeks.