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Clamping to hit streets of Dun Laoghaire

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Clamping for persistent offenders is back on the cards for Dún Laoghaire after councillors voted to introduce the long disputed and controversial measure last week.
By a majority of 14 to 11, the elected members of the local authority passed a motion to bring in clamping and towing.
The Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) on Transportation originally recommended that the proposal be introduced in an attempt to curb the high level of non-compliance with parking regulations and non-payment of fines.
The new measure will only target persistent offenders who have already accumulated three unpaid fines.
The offences that are liable to result in clamping include parking in disabled spaces, loading bays and double yellow lines but excludes offences associated with Pay and Display parking and parking in residential areas.
A report by the council’s Transportation SPC found there were 1,200 parking fines issued every month in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown with just over 30 per cent were ignored by motorists.
In 2007 the local authority spent e230,000 in legal proceedings against offenders.
On September 11, 2007, a report was brought to the strategic policy committee on the payment and non-payment of fines.
Cllr Gerry Horkan (FF) who originally proposed to introduce limited clamping last year, said the measure proposed by the counil was extremely lenient.
“This is the most modest proposal for clamping that I would say has ever been introduced in any country in the western world,” he said. “It is so modest that you have to be committing your fourth offence while not having paid for the previous three.
“You can offend every single day but can pay your ticket the next day and you still won’t be clamped. It is only for those serial, persistent non-paying offenders who this is targeted at.”
The Dún Laoghaire Business Association and the Dún Laoghaire Community Association have long campaigned against clamping because they maintain it will deter shoppers from coming into the town and will place undue restrictions on locals.
An Cathaoirleach of the council, Cllr Denis O’Callaghan (Lab) who opposed the move, said clamping would have a more detrimental effect on both Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock than in other parts of the county. He insisted there was “no demand” for the measure among his constituents.
“I have received quite an amount of correspondence from both residents and the business fraternity in Dún Laoghaire that they don’t want this introduced in their town,” he said.
“We are all in the process of trying to nurse back Dún Laoghaire back to life. It is dying on its feet and I am on public record in saying that it is like a ghost town at night, so why should we embark on a mission to worsen that situation?”
Senior Executive Officer at the Transportation Department, Therese Langan said the transportation committee was concerned about the high level of non-compliance with parking and traffic regulations and the non-payment of fines.
“The council’s enforcement policy was being undermined,” she said. “The use of court time and the system was unfair to the majority of motorists who do observe traffic and parking regulations.
“The desired outcome is that people will park considerately and without causing hazard to motorists and pedestrians and also that people who persistently offend should pay their fines.”

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