Council eases planned Croker parking ban

ALL-IRELAND FINAL:DUBLIN CITY Council has watered down plans to ban matchgoers from parking near Croke Park by allowing non-residents to continue to park in pay-and-display spaces.

However, the council said the parking restrictions proposed for the Croke Park area would still cost it more than €284,000 next year.

New bylaws have been drafted to restrict parking during matches and other major events in an area radiating almost 4km from Croke Park.

The bylaws originally proposed a complete ban on all non-residents parking around the stadium, but when they were released for public consultation earlier this years a large number of people raised concerns over access to hospitals, businesses and churches.

The council’s solution is to allow parking in pay-and-display parking bays, but only during the pay-and-display hours of operation. This means that a non-resident could not park in a Monday-to-Friday pay-and-display space on a Sunday.

Currently only about 10-15 per cent of on-street parking spaces within the 4km cordon operate pay-and-display on a Sunday. A matchgoer who entered the cordon area and could not find an available and operational pay-and-display space would have to drive out of the cordon and try to find parking elsewhere. If they did park regardless, they would be clamped, the council said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Mary Fitzpatrick, who has campaigned for residents-only parking on matchdays for several years, said the amendment was not practical.

“It has the potential to create a great deal of confusion. It won’t be possible to regulate who uses the spaces, the council isn’t going to know if you’re going into the Mater or you’re off to the match.”

Ms Fitzpatrick has also queried the cost of the scheme. The council said it will cost €200,000 to set up and a further €84,200 each year to operate. This would be “some considerable expense” for the council to bear for which it had no budget provision, the council said.

However, Ms Fitzpatrick said the council should not have to bear any of these costs.

“The full cost should be borne by the stadium, on the polluter-pays principle. It is not acceptable for the council or the residents to have to foot the bill.”

The bylaws must be approved by the city councillors before they are made law, so they will not be in place for tomorrow’s All-Ireland Final.