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

These amendments focus on section 16, subsections (5) to (8), inclusive, and section 31. These sections refer to the removal of clamps or the release of vehicles and amend section 101B of the Road Traffic Act 1961 in respect of the immobilisation of unlawfully parked vehicles.

This group of amendments seeks to deliver the objective that was outlined by Senator Barrett on Committee Stage, namely, that the Bill ought to specify a default period of two hours within which a clamp must be removed or a vehicle released once the relevant charge has been paid. If we go back to one of the last amendments that we discussed, that created a default power for the Minister on the issue of charging. This is seeking to be consistent with the last amendment in creating a default power for the Minister in relation to the period within which a clamp must be removed or vehicle released once a relevant charge has been paid.
In section 16, which deals with the removal of a clamp or release of a vehicle, I have provided the default period in a newly-inserted subsection, subsection (3). This insertion gives rise to a number of consequential amendments to subsections (1), (2) and (4), the most important of which are to delete from subsections (1) and (2) the references to "as soon as is reasonably practicable".
Amendment No. 12 carries this two-hour default provision into the newly-substituted section 101(b) of the Road Traffic Act 1961. This is inserted by section 31 of the Bill, which provides for clamping activities on the public road. In subsection (8)(c)(ii) I have replaced the words "as soon as is reasonably practicable" with "not later than two hours".
Out of the different amendments that have been made, the key one is to replace the phrase "as soon as is reasonably practicable" with the wording "not later than two hours"