Musicians busking at the Cliffs of Moher are to face auditions from Clare County Council if they want to continue playing music to the estimated 800,000 tourists who visit the attraction each year.
As part of the council's €31.5 million visitor centre plan, a licensing system for buskers will be put in place at the cliffs.
Project leader Ger Dollard said that if the number of applicants exceeded the number of places available, auditions would take place to determine the quality of the musicians.
Before the system is put in place, the council is seeking the expulsion of 19 buskers and traders. The council has instituted legal proceedings and the case is expected to come before Ennis Circuit Court in October.
Mr Dollard said the proceedings were being taken to end "the free- for-all" at the cliffs.
He told the council's June meeting: "We want to start with a clean sheet. We do accept that buskers can add to the visitor experience and we will be seeking expressions of interest to busk at the cliffs in a licensing system."
Mr Dollard said the selection process "will be fair, equitable and open to all", adding: "I believe that everyone accepts that everyone can't be accommodated at the cliffs."
There was no question of the council paying the musicians a retainer to play at the cliffs. "The injunction is the only way to go to get a clean sheet."
Mr Dollard ruled out holding talks with the traders or buskers. "We haven't engaged with them because there are so many. Some we know, some we don't know, and if we did engage with them, it would confer a status on them they don't have in the first place."
However, Tina Morrissey, a busker at the cliffs for the past 22 years, yesterday dismissed the council's plan to audition buskers as "crazy". "I've been playing the harp here for over 20 years," she said. "I'm well able to do it, so why should I have to audition?"
She added: "It is up to the public to judge if you are good or not. If you are not any good, you won't make any money."
Ms Morrissey said it was not viable for musicians just to busk at the cliffs - they must also trade. "Ninety per cent of my income comes from CD sales of my music," she said.
Work is continuing on the visitor centre, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2007. The Bord Pleanála decision which gave the centre the go- ahead ruled out trading outside the centre. Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind) said: "Surely the people who come to see the cliffs are the best adjudicators of whether the music is good or bad."
