Westport parking fines 16 times higher than Claremorris

Westport’s parking bylaws are to be reviewed after the town generated sixteen times more parking fines than Claremorris last year. Local county councillors voted to formally review the parking arrangements in the town, which collected €77,000 in fines in 2022.

By contrast, Claremorris had €4,500 in parking fines. Castlebar had €54,955 and Ballina had over €38,000.

Parking charges in the West Mayo town have been the subject of considerable debate since their introduction in 2019. At present, several different charging regimes apply to different areas of the town.

In some areas, it is possible to park for free for one hour while other car parks are subject to hourly charges or daily rates. Local county councillor Brendan Mulroy said people were ‘totally confused’ regarding which charges were applicable in what area.

While acknowledging that parking wardens were ‘doing their job’, Cllr Mulroy called for parking fines to be dealt in ‘a fair and even-handed’ manner.

“Them proceeds or fines are very, very high. It doesn’t send out a good message to people coming in,” Cllr Mulroy said at the monthly meeting of Westport Belmullet Municipal District.

Cllr Mulroy called for all car parks to be free-of-charge until 11am. This is currently only applicable for street parking in the town.

He added that a lot of people were being fined for illegal parking in the Quay area, where parking is only free of charge in some places.

Illegal parking

In response, Head of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District Padraic Walsh said that over half of the fines issued in Westport were for illegal parking in loading bays and double yellow lines, rather than non-payment of charges. Mr Walsh also told the meeting that none of the revenue was ring-fenced to be spent in the town.

He added that Westport was ‘difficult to compare’ with other towns as locals had become familiarised with long-standing parking regimes.

Catherine McConnell, Mayo County Council’s Director of Services for Westport, said that some of funding goes towards General Municipal Allocation (GMA) and other local projects.

Ms McConnell acknowledged that Westport’s parking regime was ‘very complicated’ and said the matter could be discussed at a workshop.

Cllr Peter Flynn said that there was something ‘seriously wrong’ that Westport generated 16 times more parking fines than Claremorris.

Cllr Flynn called for a review of the parking charges in the municipal district, which he said was deriving ‘zero benefit’ from parking revenue.

Independent councillor John O’Malley said Westport’s parking regime was ‘not doing the town any favours’. Cllr O’Malley claimed that a woman from Wicklow received a parking ticket after leaving her car to buy a bottle of water for her sick child.

“She said she never will come back to this town again, never,” Cllr O’Malley said.

Cllr Mulroy proposed that all parking charges be suspended in Westport until councillors reached a decision regarding the parking bylaws.

However, this was opposed by Erris-based county councillor Gerry Coyle, who described parking charges as ‘the best thing that ever came’.

Cllr Mulroy then proposed that free parking before 11am should be introduced while parking at the Quay area would be revisited. Following a discussion which ran for half an hour, councillors voted to review parking charges at their next municipal district meeting.

Councillors are to hold a workshop on the matter in the interim.