Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to the House.

In my experience, if one sees a clamped car at the side of the road one has a certain sympathy for the driver, whereas a parking ticket does not evoke the same sympathy. I note with interest that the only local authority operating a clamping system is Dublin City Council. For example, Galway City Council and Galway County Council abolished the use of clamping in 2007 as did Cork City Council in 2012 because it was costing €1 million a year to administer the system and it was only taking in €750,000 in fines. I agree that Dublin is a different beast and a bigger city, but I question the need for a clamping system. Approximately 90,000 to 100,000 cars are clamped nationally every year, while a total of 150 cars are clamped in Dublin every day. Approximately 45% to 50% of cars clamped in the country are clamped on private property. This is why regulation is needed and I welcome the Bill. We have all heard the horror stories, and people will always tell one the worst thing that has happened to them.

Certain categories of private property, such as supermarkets and hotel car parks, are entitled to protect their car parking spaces because such spaces are their means of income and their trade can be affected if the parking spaces are used by those who are not visiting their premises. The Bill provides for a maximum charge, which will be regulated. The Bill provides for regulation rather than licensing, which would not be viable in this country.

Senator Mooney raised points that I had intended to raise. When will the National Transport Authority provide the regulations as proposed in section 9 of the Bill?

The Minister referred in his opening remarks to the time allowed before a car is unclamped. A customer charter will be required. If my car is clamped I contact the company and I give them my credit card details over the phone and the clampers return to unlock my car. The customer charter should provide that the clampers must return to release a car within a set period of time after the fine is paid. I have heard about people who have paid the fine and are left waiting for release for an hour, or an hour and a half if the clampers are busy. It is a contentious issue, and the nature of the job means that clampers are often in conflict with an individual who may be annoyed at the clamping or the delay. Members of the public have complained about the manner in which the clamping personnel deal with them.

Senator Mooney referred to private property such as supermarket and hotel car parks, and I would include hospital car parks. Most hospitals are public institutions, and some leeway needs to be shown with regard to parking in hospital car parks. There may be extenuating circumstances for a person whose car has exceeded its time limit at a parking space, or a car may have been abandoned in a certain spot because of a medical emergency.

The Bill provides for an appeals process. An appeal can be made to the clamping service in the first instance and the NTA will appoint an individual to examine the appeal if the outcome is unsatisfactory. A person whose car is clamped will be required to pay the fine on the spot but may win the appeal. The regulations need to include a customer charter.

I have a query about relocation of clamped vehicles. I do not have a figure for the number of cars towed away in Dublin on a daily or weekly basis.

I know somebody who had a car towed away on a Sunday a few years ago while he was at a GAA match. It was a Tipperary man, and I am not too sorry for him because of the local rivalry between Kilkenny and Tipperary. It was three hours later before he got the car back.

Private companies should not have the ability to tow away somebody's car. The Garda Síochána should be the only people involved in towing away cars in that they must give the instruction for the car to be towed. One can come back to find that one's car is gone. I do not know who gives notice that one's car has been towed. It is important that gardaí have an input into the relocation of a car, which can take a long time to have released.

Outside Dublin the majority of clamping on private property is done by private security operators. I see it in certain carparks in Kilkenny where a private security company comes in and clamps cars if the owner of that property is deemed to have parked illegally. It is important, in respect of section 9 of the Bill, that the regulations indicate how much time has to elapse before a clamper can be called in because there have been so-called cowboy operators who know they have people in a catch-22 situation in that if one's car is clamped one cannot move until the fee they ask for is paid and the car released. It is important that this regulation is introduced and that everything is synchronised in that regard.

I welcome the Minister and I welcome the Bill because it is important that we have equality with regard to all clamping operations in the country. It may not be anything to do with him but the Minister might indicate to the House if Dublin City Council is making money on clamping or if it is costing it money, which was the case in Cork City Council. I welcome the Bill and hope this regulation will make life a little easier for everybody.