The Galway city manager, Mr John Tierney, has said there will be no immediate change to the local authority's parking control system following this week's decision to sack the current holder of the car clamping contract.
Mr Tierney said that a motion passed by city councillors this week would have to be examined, and he would report back to the council in September. Until then, the current system would remain in place, he said.
Galway city councillors voted to terminate the contract held by the Dublin-based company, Control Plus, after a lengthy debate on the issue on Monday night. An alternative plan backed by four political parties proposes to introduce a system which will ease existing rules, by allowing a one-hour "grace" period after a parking permit expires.
A €19 fine may be levied during this "grace" period, and the car can then be clamped if it has not been moved during the third hour, according to the plan. Clamping will be banned from city-operated car-parks, while the motion also affords the Garda power to order the removal of clamps. It also restricts clamping to daytime only, between 8.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m.
Nine councillors representing Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats and Sinn Féin endorsed the move, which was opposed by the Labour Party and the Green Party. Mr Tierney, said there were both traffic management and revenue implications involved in the motion. Illegal parking would cause serious congestion and would be in breach of the Barcelona Declaration where such parking occurred on footpaths, he said.
The city earns a little more than €4 million from parking fees and clamping fines annually, but spends €1.4 million on maintaining the system. Net income is €2.7 million, Mr Tierney told The Irish Times. The annual value of the clamping contract is €675,000 and some €600,000 is accrued from penalties.
Mr Tierney said that 777 appeals to clamping fines had been lodged during the period July 2003 to April 2004, but 80 per cent of the 318 appeals which were allowed involved incorrect display of parking permits.
Control Plus was forced to issue a public apology last May after an incident where its staff clamped two cars outside a doctor's surgery during a medical emergency. The clamp from one of the vehicles - owned by the parent of a sick child - was removed when the fine was paid for personally by a garda, who had been called to the scene.