Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Senator's first point. Greater clarity needs to be brought to the practice that is allowed in the non-statutory areas and how it should work. Speaking as someone who has been clamped on two occasions, as I said on Second Stage, a particular area that should be examined is the appeals process in respect of the non-statutory areas. The Senator gave the example of a person who purchases a cup of coffee or another item in a premises and leaves their vehicle parked outside it for the full day. I would hope that the NTA would have a code on practice that would cover that and other such matters. That is the reason I do not want to include such matters in legislation. If I was to prescribe particular matters that the NTA should do, such as the consideration of the issue the Senator mentioned, that would undermine the autonomy it currently has, and it does a very good job. It would also prescribe and limit the number of areas it could examine through the powers it will have to issue a code of practice.