Traffic wardens to work later and on Sundays in Cork city
Picture: Cork The On Parking Linehan City Cork Warden Dan At A Mall, Work South
Parking enforcement activity in Cork city is set to be extended within weeks, with traffic wardens on duty later in the evenings and on Sundays.
But the city council has confirmed that the additional enforcement will be occasional and that there will be no additional recruitment to bolster staffing numbers in its traffic warden team.
Instead, the council plans to deliver the additional enforcement through an increase in the warden team's overtime budget.
In general, parking enforcement operations take place from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, with occasional extra hours to cover specific events.
A council spokesman said while extra parking enforcement will take place in the run up to Christmas, as is usual on a seasonal basis, the extended enforcement will be in effect from the new year, thanks to the increase in the overtime budget.
It will allow the council to extend its parking enforcement operations to 8.30pm Monday to Saturday, with additional enforcement hours on Sundays.
However, the extended enforcement will be occasional, and will depend on “availability of resources and identified needs”, the council said.
“The demand for extended parking enforcement, up to 8.30pm and Sundays, is a cyclical one,” it said.
“Extended enforcement will be delivered across the year, depending on availability of resources and identified needs."
The extension of parking enforcement follows a decision by city councillors to increase the city’s traffic warden budget from €1,059,800 this year to €1,106,400 next year.
Councillors said the increase in enforcement is badly needed following a raft of complaints about illegal parking in bus and cycle lanes across the city centre, and more recently, complaints about widespread and brazen illegal parking along the new pavement on MacCurtain St and surrounding streets, installed as part of the area’s multi-million revamp designed to improve public transport.
Local councillors said the parking problems in this area are particularly bad at weekends and are affecting the flow of buses.
Labour Cllr John Maher said City Hall needs to accept that Cork is “no longer a nine to five city”.
“I’m delighted that we have invested significant money in and around MacCurtain St, but if people get away with parking on the pavement, in bus lanes, and on public plazas, then that investment is a complete waste of money,” he said.
“Illegal parking at bus stops in this area means buses can’t pull in out of the traffic lane, leading to tailbacks in general traffic, and late buses. There are massive consequences for us not enforcing the parking regulations."
And while the city has provided additional funding to ramp up parking enforcement, Mr Maher said gardaí have a role to play too.
He said he plans to raise the parking enforcement issue with senior gardaí at the next meeting of the city’s joint policing committee in December.
The city currently has 18 traffic wardens, two traffic warden supervisors, and one parking enforcement manager.