*Under the proposals, the Miltown Malbay Rd car park in Lahinch would be hit with parking fees. Photograph: John Mangan
A TOTAL OF 352 submissions have been received by Clare County Council on the draft parking by-laws for Kilkee, Lahinch, White Strand, Spanish Point, Doolin and Fanore.
Efforts to discontinue plans to introduce paid parking at the coastal locations were made by Cllr Liam Grant (GP) and Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) but withdrawn at the September meeting of the West Clare Municipal District.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare MD, Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) advised Tuesday’s meeting, “we made a decision to start a statutory process, we can’t stop it at this point. We’ve a meeting next week to go through the full submissions so I can’t take the motion as valid”.
Cllr Grant had sought to stop all plans to introduce additional paid parking in Fanore, Kilkee, Spanish Point, Doolin, Lahinch and White Strand. “I’ve received more emails about the proposed paid parking in West Clare than any other issue. Locals and tourists alike are outraged at the proposed changes for many reasons,” he said. Cllr Kelly asked “that the present proposals for charges at seaside resorts would be discontinued forthwith”.
John Leahy, senior engineer in the roads department of the Council recalled that at the West Clare MD’s June meeting there was agreement for the draft parking by-laws to go on public consultation. “The draft parking by laws were published on July 7th and members of the public were invited to make submissions up until August 22nd. A total of 352 submissions have been received to date. A report on the submissions received is being prepared at present and it is proposed that these submissions will be considered at a briefing session with the West Clare Municipal District councillors later this month”.
Noting the amount of submissions, Cllr Grant remarked, “I’ve got the same amount of emails and phonecalls, people are very unhappy with it whether it is locals, business people or people that visit West Clare, it is the most contact I’ve had over anything, it has upset a lot of people. I want to make it clear I’m against paid parking at these seaside resorts”.
Mistakes must be rectified, Cllr Kelly insisted. “We all make mistakes but we did make a mistake in allowing it through in the form it was in, I didn’t comment as I was furthest away. There was previous comments, we made a mistake and have to correct it”. Not alone did he receive phone calls and texts but the Lissycasey had people arrive to his door to air their views. “352 submissions is indicative of the concerns out there, there are basic rights that we should have acknowledged from day one, the right of house owners to have cars parked in their premises”.
Initially reluctant to open a debate on the matter, Cllr Lynch told Cllr Kelly he did not have the “full facts” by saying Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) was the only representative to air opposition to the by-laws. “My name was mentioned a lot, when it came up for decision not who debated it, we all debated it, I was the only one who voted against it,” Keating responded.
No objections were made to the minutes of the June meeting when they were adopted, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) flagged. “As far as I’m aware no one endorsed the draft by laws as a decision we would make, we kicked off a process to encourage the public to give submissions, we don’t have a breakdown of the 352 submissions if they are in the one direction, we need to do the work and give respect to all who gave submissions”.
Attempting to throw out the by-laws already was a case of ‘jumping the gun’ and being “populist,” according to Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG). “We entered into a process, a lot of you are sick and tired of me saying about public consultation and engaging with communities but what respect have we for communities if we pull it. We either pass something and stand by. I know it is an election year and people want to get the jump ahead”.
Whether he was reading through the minutes of the previous meeting or The Clare Echo’s report on their debate on the matter is unsure but Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) was quick to point out how he warned of the “law of unintended consequence” at their last meeting when reading from the laptop of a colleague. “We’ve got submissions on it, the reason it was sent out was for consultation purposes, some sensible suggestions to alleviate pinch points, on unsuitable parking pays chosen by those in campervans, we need to give credit and go through submissions received”.
“We considered the proposals, by considering them I read them and looked for them, I considered I would be heading for active summer by people contacting me,” said Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF). He added, “we agreed to enter a process, if you were to pull this we would be disenfranchise this”.
Cllr Grant interrupted to say, “paid parking doesn’t mean consultation” to which Cllr Murphy emphasised, “we’re in the process”. Grant added, “there’s other aspects in the process. I’m fine with it continuing”.
Concluding the discussion, Cllr Lynch told the meeting they would have an in-camera briefing next week to “try make an informed plan”.
