Clamping set to be introduced at war memorial gardens

Clamping and parking charges are set to be enforced by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for the first time, in a crackdown on commuters and builders parking at the Irish War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, Dublin.

The car parks near the entrance to the gardens as well as those inside the gates of the gardens near the Trinity boat club are among the last remaining free parking areas close to the city.

The OPW said they are becoming increasingly inappropriately used for day-long parking by commuters and by workers at nearby construction sites, instead of visitors to the war memorial or the surrounding park and riverside. The area has also become overrun with illegal parking, particularly on double yellow lines and footpaths, it said.

The OPW said it had spoken to companies “whose staff are parking in the park to advise them that their parking patterns are undesirable with respect to this historical park and its surrounding institutional users”.

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However, these interventions, along with signage and the insertion of double yellow lines, have been largely unsuccessful, it said.

“We are restricted in what we can do to stop this problem, as our legislative powers are limited. We are in the process of installing a temporary solution that consists of temporary barriers, parking restrictions, clamping, signage and the installation of a temporary footpath.”

Clamping licence

However, chief park superintendent Margaret Gormley said the OPW was likely to seek sanction for permanent parking measures including its own clamping licence and the introduction of parking charges.

“Charging for parking and clamping is not a route we have gone down before, but the parking problem has escalated out of proportion in the last two years.”

Not only was the commuter and construction parking inappropriate for the war memorial, it was causing access difficulties for the St John of God special school and Gaelscoil Inse Chór, which are beside the gardens and use the same access route.

“A number of children attending St John of God would be of limited mobility and the way people have been parking makes access for them very difficult. We have been actively trying to eradicate this type of parking and we don’t want to charge people and clamp people, but reluctantly, there seems to be the way we will have to go,” Ms Gormley said.