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

These amendments, particularly amendment No. 4, relate back directly to the debate we had on Committee Stage of the Bill, specifically proposals and amendments that were put forward by Senator Barrett.

Amendment No. 2 elaborates on the different circumstances under which the NTA may set various requirements and conditions in relation to the regulation of clamping authorities. Explicit reference will now be made to the different hours of the day in which clamping activities are conducted. Although, on reflection, I believe the reference in subsection 2(c) to different circumstances is broad enough to grant this flexibility to the NTA, I nonetheless do want to explicitly underline this principle within the Bill.

Amendment No. 4, which follows on from amendment No. 2, arises directly from Senator Barrett's suggestion and proposed amendment last week on Committee Stage. Consistent with that approach, this amendment makes clear that when making regulations to specify maximum charges, the NTA may specify different charges for different times of the day. Having already made the point in relation to amendment No. 2, the reference here to different circumstances is now sufficiently wide to grant flexibility to the NTA. In the interests of consistency within the Bill, I want to reiterate this principle in section 14.

To relate this back to the debate on Committee Stage, one of the concepts that Senator Barrett was articulating was the need to relate the cost of the activity to the time of day in which the activity takes place. The point the Senator made is that there could conceivably be a different cost involved in unclamping a car in the middle of the night as opposed to unclamping a car in the middle of the day, that being driven by the cost of wages, operating equipment and so on. He made the point that it was important that there be recognition of this within the Bill and recognition that undue and disproportionate costs can be incurred not only by the person being clamped but also by the clamping operator.

Amendments Nos. 2 and 4 relate to sections 9 and 14, which focus on non-statutory clamping areas, and seek to bring this broader recognition of unusual costs that may be incurred by the clamping operator. They seek to deliver the objective of Senator Barrett's proposed amendments on Committee Stage through what I believe to be stronger and more specific drafting.