A new contract, with new terms, should kick in from August.
For years, some councillors have been pushing for more parking enforcement outside the city centre – in places like the northern suburbs.
Now, the council is moving to award a new parking-enforcement contract, for the first time in years.
And councillors say it’s to include provisions meant to push clampers to spend more time hunting meter overstayers, footpath blockers, and bus lane cloggers outside the city centre.
Something needs to be done, said Labour Councillor Alison Field, in a motion presented to the North Central Area Committee on 23 March.
“Illegal parking is becoming a nightmare around our city and suburbs,” she said in the motion. “Drivers think they can park anywhere.”
Field pointed to certain hot spots, like Killester, Harmonstown, St Anne’s Park, and Kilmore West.
Although, the issue spreads further, all across the city. Like in East Wall, in the council’s Central Area.
Last month, local Sean McCabe said he rarely gets to park outside his own house on Church Road, a narrow residential road that curves away off East Road, where a large development has just been completed – Marshall Yard.
He works night shifts. When he drives back from work at 6am or 7am, any spaces around the area are already gone, he said.
The worst is coming back with a car full of kids and shopping and finding no spaces anywhere near the front door, said Tara Casey, a resident of East Road. “It’s a disaster to manage.”
As new apartment complexes with limited parking pop-up all over Dublin, so too do the concerns of residents in surrounding streets about their neighbourhoods being turned into car parks.
Although, it’s not just where new developments appear, it’s been a decades-long issue for some areas, like Kilmore West – where staff and visitors to Beaumont Hospital use the surrounding residential roads as an overflow car park.
It’s the same issues in all these areas, said Field, in her motion last month.
Drivers are blocking people’s homes, she said, and causing danger to residents as emergency vehicles aren’t able to access roads when needed.
So, asks Field, where is all the parking enforcement?
The spots around the North Central Area that Field inquired about are patrolled on a regular basis by Dublin Street Parking Services, and all illegal parking is enforced when encountered, the council’s response to Field’s motion said.
The company DSPS has for many years had a contract from the council to fine, clamp, or tow illegally parked cars.
As part of the written response to Fields’ motion, Suzanne Lacey, an administrative officer in the council’s parking enforcement section, included figures on what had been done in the area between 1 October to 30 January.
For example, in those four months, in Kilmore West, DSPS had issued 90 fixed penalty notices (fines), and had not clamped or towed any cars.
On Harmonstown Road, DSPS issued 21 fixed penalty notices, and did not clamp or tow any cars.
In Raheny, around Watermill and St Anne’s Park, DSPS issued 20 fixed penalty notices and towed six cars.
In Killester, DSPS issued 18 fixed penalty notices, clamped four cars, and towed 12.
By contrast, in city centre hot spots, DSPS does a lot more parking enforcement.
In 2024, council figures show the most clamped spot was Merrion Square South, in Dublin 2, with 704 vehicles – on average, about 234 every four months.
Then came Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, with 693. Third place went to the South Circular Road, Dublin 8, with 677.
For years, DSPS operated an early-leave incentive programme, where if clampers did a certain number of clamps, they could knock off early. This tempted crews to flock to places they knew they could find easy pickings – rather than patrol far and wide.
DSPS has the current contract for parking enforcement in Dublin city, but the contract is up for renewal this year – who will get the new one is yet unknown.
While the details of the new contract haven’t been shown to councillors yet, they have been pushing for years for changes compared to the old contract.
Sam Tranum
They want to see more enforcement in suburban areas, not just the city centre, said Green Party Councillor Feljin Jose, by phone on Thursday.
Councillors were promised that the new contract would explicitly call for all six existing parking zones of Dublin City Council to be patrolled more frequently – the Yellow, Red, Green, Orange, Blue, and White zones.
“I always get complaints of cars parked illegally blocking footpaths in suburban areas like Cabra, Glasnevin, Drumcondra, Phibsborough. We don't see the same level of enforcement that we do in more inner city areas,” says Jose.
“But that doesn't mean someone in a wheelchair or someone who's visually impaired, or a parent with their children has less of a right to walk safely down a footpath,” he says.
Now, councillors are waiting if what they were promised comes to fruition, says Jose.
The new contractor must take over in August, he says – so, councillors are expecting to lay eyes on the new contract soon, he said.
Dublin City Council hasn’t responded to queries asking for details on the new contract.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
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