Irish Life and Permanent is selling off a small subsidiary which is the market leader in the car parking business in Dublin.

The group is set to begin discussions with a number of parties in relation to the sale of Parkride Ltd, a former subsidiary of Irish Life.

The company is associated with the car parks in the Irish Life centre on Abbey Street, the Ilac Centre on Parnell Street and at the RDS, among others. It is involved in both management contracts and leaseholding, and made pre-tax profits in 1998 of £1.1 million (€1.4 million), up from £719,000 the previous year.