Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I would like to respond to the question put by the Minister. The good thing about Connolly Hospital is that it has a massive car park and that there is only one small section where a blockage might be created. There is a bus service to the hospital, but it is not that regular. If a person parked in front of the accident and emergency unit, some mechanism would be required to move that car, but it could be moved to a designated area and the owner found and dealt with. There are ways of dealing with inappropriate parking, without making life a total misery for visitors. However, the majority of clamping taking place within the car park, of cars that are not causing any obstruction. That is the problem. I cannot count the number of times I have come out to the car park and seen cars clamped. There is a small parking section at the accident and emergency unit, but people have been clamped there also.

In general, we need a new attitude in regard to clamping in hospital grounds. A message needs to come from the Department of Transport saying the current approach is not acceptable. The Minister should send the message to each hospital that they must move away from the idea of clamping. There are other ways to deal with the issue.