Dublin City Council to remain the only local authority in the country that clamps vehicles
Dublin’s largest local authority is maintaining clamping across the city in its new parking contract, but will also introduce parking enforcement foot patrols for the first time.
Despite Dublin City Council’s (DCC) move to award its parking enforcement contract to Apcoa from Dublin Street Parking Services – owned by Q-Park – clamping remains a key element of its enforcement arsenal.
DCC is the last council in the country to still employ the practice and has faced calls to reconsider its use in the lead-up to the new contract.
However, there are some key changes in the new system, with public reports of illegal parking to be treated as a priority, particularly in residential areas.
Under the new structure, the authority’s administrative area will be divided into six zones, the first four of which will be on the residential outskirts of the city – two on each side of the River Liffey.
In these areas, illegal parking incidents will be prioritised based on complaints from the public.
Zone 5 is a central city area stretching roughly from Heuston Station to East Wall, as far south as the Grand Canal and up to the North Circular Road.
In this area, the focus of the parking enforcement operator is on keeping traffic moving by removing and relocating offending vehicles.
The smallest area is Zone 6 in the city core, which takes in key thoroughfares such as O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street and Dawson Street.
Here, parking enforcement actions will be primarily carried out by foot patrols for the first time, with officers issuing fines and calling in support from clamping vans and tow trucks as required.
This is down to the levels of congestion in the city centre, which DCC said restricted the ability of enforcement vehicles to travel through the area.
Parking enforcement patrols will be spread more evenly across the city under the new structure, with one for each zone at peak times – from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and from 8am to 7pm on Saturday.
For off-peak times – Monday to Saturday from 7pm to midnight and Sundays and bank holidays from 10am to 8pm – there will be one patrol shared across Zone 1 and Zone 2 and another patrol shared between Zone 3 and 4.
Zones 5 and 6 will continue to have their own patrols at off-peak hours.
Speaking at a DCC meeting on Wednesday, the council’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, said clamping has stuck around because it works.
“People sometimes say to us, well, clamping is kind of out of date and there’s other means. The simple truth about it is that across the city, clamping works well in some places, fining works well in some places,” he said.
“Towing away works the best, to be honest, but we don’t tow away unless we really have to. So, it’s a mix across it, is what we’ve learned from the previous contract.”
The new contract will be in place from November 1 this year, with DCC reporting that the “full benefits” of the updated enforcement system will likely be seen from 2027.