Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, there is a big difference between clamping on-street and clamping in a private location. We are seeing it being used as a sanction in all sorts of situations, including apartment blocks.

In villages and towns where clamping is applied, often one finds two or three different clamping companies, perhaps in addition to the local authority operating a pay parking system, and it causes confusion. There must be symmetry in the messages motorists receive. There cannot be a range of different types of advice notices for them.

Often when a motorist has been clamped once and must pay €120 or €130 to release the clamp, he or she will never go back to that location again and it does considerable damage to the business sector in areas where there is that confusion. I would like to know what is different about private property in this country that is not the case in England, Scotland and Wales.

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