Almost one in 10 Dublin City Council clamps illegally removed or destroyed, figures show
Almost one in 10 vehicle clamps installed by Dublin City Council (DCC) in the last year have been illegally removed or destroyed.
New figures, provided to Green Party councillor Feljin Jose, show the number of clamps placed on vehicles by its parking enforcement wing, Dublin Street Parking Services, came to 43,124 last year.
Records show 39,367 authorised “de-clampings” took place, while 3,610 clamps were illegally removed or destroyed.
This comes to 8.4pc of the total number used for 2025, with similar rates of clamp destruction recorded for 2023 and 2024.
The number of clampings undertaken by DCC rose slightly between 2023 (44,128) and 2024 (45,636) before declining last year to 43,124.
DCC only retain parking statistics for three years, so figures from 2022 and earlier are not available.
Mr Jose told the Irish Independent it was “obvious to everyone that a lot of clamps are being illegally removed”.
“But I don’t think anyone quite knew the scale until now. Like, almost 10pc, that’s staggering. And it does not seem like there’s been any prosecutions.”
A council spokesperson said it did not have figures for the number of prosecutions arising out of the destruction of clamps.
“Specific statistics on individual types of property affected and resulting in prosecutions under the Criminal Damage Act are not available from An Garda Síochána,” a garda spokesperson said.
Mr Jose said there could be upwards of €1m of damage being done every year, applying a conservative costing of €300 per clamp.
“At the end of the day, the rule of law has to be followed and if there’s €1m worth of criminal damage being done, something has to be done about it,” he said.
And this figure does not account for the financial hit to the authority from unpaid fines.
Despite calls from some councillors to halt clamping by DCC – the only local authority still carrying out the practice – Mr Jose said it remains an important tool in its parking enforcement arsenal.
I think DCC has gotten better at doing more of the fines, as opposed to just clamping
“I think clamping has a place, I think towing has a place and I think fining has a place,” he said.
“I think DCC has gotten better at doing more of the fines, as opposed to just clamping. For example, if a car is parked blocking a bus lane, or a cycle lane, or a footpath, what they would do a couple of years ago was to clamp, which just prolongs the issue.”
He would like to see the council towing vehicles away more often instead, but admitted to some “reluctance” on the part of DCC to do so.
“It obviously does take more time, but I think it is the most effective for the people who are affected by illegally parked cars,” he said.
“I don’t see how we tackle illegal parking and, if you’ll pardon the pun, clamp down on illegal parking, if we do not have any repercussions for people who simply remove clamps and damage property.”