Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendments. I raised the issue of clamping on hospital grounds earlier, particularly Blanchardstown hospital where I have witnessed this many times. People who had to rush into the accident and emergency department come out afterwards to discover their car clamped. Patients and visitors who are detained for different reasons when they go into the hospital are also being clamped. It is despicable that a person can come out of a hospital to find their car clamped having being delayed through no fault of their own. I have always said another mechanism can be used to deal with that. When this issue was raised on Committee Stage, the Minister said he was not in favour of this but there are ways of addressing this issue. Barriers could be used in order that people can at least access their cars and get in and out of the car park. To be clamped and have to pay a fine having visited someone who is sick or having to go in sick as a patient is a big issue.

It is common practice for management companies to use clamping to put pressure on people to pay management fees and I am aware of this happening in many areas, including Lanesborough, Hampton Wood and so on. This practice should not be allowed. More rules are needed to regulate management companies. We need to examine how they do this. I would much prefer if we went down the road of having local authorities manage all these estates instead of having myriad management companies with different rules. I welcome the Minister's move to bring fines on public and private roads into line. That is welcome because the cost of unlocking clamped cars varies significantly.

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