Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This meeting will be carried live on UPC channel 207, eVision channel 504 and Sky channel 574. I remind members to turn off their mobile telephones. Apologies have been received from Deputy Michael McCarthy, and Deputy Catherine Murphy is deputising for Deputy Tom Fleming.

The meeting has been convened to consider the Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014. The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the regulation of the immobilisation of vehicles and related activities in certain places and in this regard to confer functions on the National Transport Authority and to amend the Transport Act 1950, section 101B of the Road Traffic Act 1961, the Fishery Harbour Centres Act 1968, the Harbours Act 1996 and the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 and to provide for related matters.

The Bill proposes to establish a regulatory regime in respect of clamping activities in both statutory - public - and non-statutory - private - places for the first time. It provides that the National Transport Authority will regulate such activities in addition to supervising a new two-tier appeals process. The Bill seeks, among other things, to introduce a separate complaints procedure, to set a default maximum clamp release fee in non-statutory places, to provide for a code of practice and to allow for the making of clamping and signage regulations. I welcome the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Donohoe, and his officials to this meeting. A small number of related proposed amendments have been grouped for the purposes of debate.