Funeral hearses blocked as pavement parking hits new low in Dundalk
Persistent pavement parking on Church Street and Bridge Street in Dundalk has sparked renewed frustration among councillors, who say the behaviour is causing safety issues and undermining recent public realm investment in the area.
Raising the matter at the latest meeting of the Dundalk Municipal District, Cllr Maeve Yore said she recently counted seven cars mounted on footpaths during a visit to the two streets.
She said she has highlighted the issue at several previous meetings but uncertainty remains around who is responsible for enforcement.
“It is a bit of a grey area. The gardaí are saying it is the traffic wardens, and they can only do so much,” she said.
Cllr Yore noted particular difficulties when Northern Ireland–registered vehicles are involved.
“The traffic wardens have a means of collecting the debt from a northern registered car, by going to a collection agency, but the gardaí do not,” she explained.
However, she stressed that local drivers are also contributing to the problem.
“There is consistent illegal parking, and it is impacting on local people and on the shops.”
One solution, she suggested, would be installing bollards at the bottom of Church Street, coming from Linenhall Street, to physically prevent cars from mounting pavements.
“We have spent hundreds of thousands on regenerating this area, and these drivers are going to damage the footpaths,” she warned, adding that there are “plenty of parking spaces available” nearby for motorists.
Cllr Sean Kelly echoed her concerns, saying poor parking near St Nicholas’ Church had now reached the point where it was obstructing funeral vehicles.
“It has actually got to the stage where they are blocking hearses from parking outside the church,” he said.
He agreed that bollards could act as a deterrent, suggesting that lowering keys could be held by the church when access is required.
Responding, Senior Executive Officer Bryan Coughlan said bollards would be considered only as “a last resort” given the significant public realm spending in the area.
“But we will certainly look at enforcement with the traffic section,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cllr Robert Nash called for a yellow box to be installed at Fairgreen Road to improve traffic flow in the area.