Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport if he will refuse any application to raise clamping charges in view of the increased pressures already felt by motorists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23142/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy asked if I will refuse any application to raise clamping charges in view of the increased pressures already felt by motorists. The programme for Government contains a commitment to legislate to regulate the vehicle clamping industry. In this regard, I presented a discussion document to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht in December 2011 in which I outlined the principal issues to be addressed in regulating the industry and my proposals on the shape of appropriate legislation, and I invited their views. This was the first time a committee was asked to participate in the drafting of legislation at the pre-heads of Bill or principles stage.

The committee, of which the Deputy is a member, responded to me on 28 March in a comprehensive report which contained a number of recommendations, many of which will be reflected in the resulting legislation. In its report, the committee made specific recommendations on the level of de-clamping fees, to which I will give careful consideration when framing the legislation. It is my intention to bring my proposals for legislation on vehicle clamping to Government in the coming weeks.

The current maximum de-clamping fee that may be charged by public authorities for parking offences on public land was set by statute in 1998 at £65 which, with the introduction of the euro, converted to €80. I have received no formal application to have that fee increased and I have no proposals to do so.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the clarification. Motorists in this city had expressed some concern over a Dublin City Council report, which seemed to suggest it was interested in increasing the charge to €130.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that. I have not received any application from Dublin City Council or any other council. I can increase the cap by order, but I am not going to do so if asked. I want to build on the recommendations made by the joint committee and bring legislation to the House. The recommendation made by the joint committee was that the release fees should be reasonable and that clamping should not be used as a profit generating exercise. The committee recommended the prescribing of a band of release fees, ranging from a minimum to a maximum amount and that it should be a reserved function of local authorities to set the release fees most appropriate to their administrative are. That is probably a good proposal and the appropriate time to put that proposal into law is when we have the new legislation. In the meantime, I will not be granting any requests to increase clamping fees.