Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Last week, my party leader asked me to lead on the Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 in the absence of my colleague Senator John Kelly, who is contesting a by-election. I said I knew nothing about vehicle clamping but I assure the Minister I am learning. I am thankful the we do not have any vehicle clamping in our area. I sat down to write a speech but I will not use it because it only regurgitates what the Minister has stated, and there is no need for that.

There are a few points I would like to refer to. I welcome the two-tier appeals process. My daughter visited me in Leinster House some time ago and she parked on Merrion Square. She parked within the white lines and put up a parking ticket, but when she returned to the car it had been clamped. She was like a raving lunatic about it. She told me there was no clear notice of clamping in operation and although it was a new practice, there were no signs, and parking spaces appeared to be marked. She had to pay to be released. When she appealed it, she did not win and the appeal went nowhere. I am glad there will be a second tier of appeals for people such as her to appeal to.

Proper and prominent signage is essential if clamping is to take place. I come from a tourist area in Killarney, which has many foreign visitors. Perhaps the signage could be in different languages for such people. I know we cannot allow people to park wherever they like and drop their cars anywhere. Nevertheless, clamping is a harsh punishment in some cases, such as when a person's parking ticket has run out. A fine should suffice in such circumstances and there should be no need to clamp a car. Clamping should take place in cases where a fire hydrant or emergency service access is being blocked, for example, or in cases in which a car causes a major obstruction. Clamping a car because a ticket has expired is too harsh a punishment.

Senator Mooney referred to disabled parking spaces. I would not care if all four wheels of a vehicle illegally parked in a disabled parking space were clamped; the more wheels clamped in such cases, the better. If it were possible to clamp the steering wheel, it should be done as well. It is absolutely despicable behaviour, although I am not referring to the Senator in this case.