Employees of Enniscorthy businesses taking up valuable parking spaces in town centre

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Efforts to provide more spaces for those visiting Enniscorthy’s town centre are being stymied by employees of local businesses parking outside their places of work. With new parking by-laws set to be introduced in the town, the six councillors of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD) discussed how best to promote footfall in the town at their monthly meeting.

“In terms of permits for workers in the town, can we create by-laws for where they can and can’t park?” asked Councillor Aidan Browne.

"This is part of the problem, we talk about the lack of parking but part of the issue is way our permits are being issued,” replied director of services Carolyne Godkin who said the new by-laws would provide “an opportunity” to right some existing wrongs.

One of those wrongs, according to Cathaoirleach Barbara Anne Murphy, is the utilisation of spaces outside retail units.

“In some places a customer can’t park because the employees of the business are in the spaces,” she said. “It’s almost like they’re preventing their own business from surviving."

Recognising that some staff members had no alternative, Cllr Pat Kehoe suggested one large car park be allocated for all those working in the town centre.

“Could we create a staff parking zone in the Bellefield Complex?” he asked. “It’s a fine car park and only a five-minute walk from the centre of town. We’ve lost a lot of parking and we’re going to lose more with the pedestrianisation of the town centre; could we approach the complex and enquire about all-day parking for €2?”

Agreeing to look into all available options, Ms Godkin said the natural inclination of anyone working in Enniscorthy was to “park as close as where they need to go as possible”.

Another possibility is the car park at the astro pitch on the Ross Road, as suggested by Cllr Browne.

“But that’s a walk out of town,” noted Cllr Murphy. “It’s not a problem on a nice day but in the middle of winter when it’s raining it will be.”