Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. We can both agree that the abuse of disabled parking spaces by other motorists is selfish, anti-social and, as the Senator mentioned, anti-equality. It can cause grave disruption for those for whom the spaces were installed in the first instance.

As the Senator will be aware, the disabled parking permit is available to people living in Ireland with a permanent condition or disability that severely restricts their ability to walk. The intention of this permit and the disabled parking scheme more generally is to provide access to parking bays of sufficient size in close proximity to important services, such as post offices, banks, pharmacies and shops for people for whom access to such services would be denied if they could not park and disembark either because of the size of a parking bay or because they could not park within a short distance of a service due to their limited mobility.

Disabled parking bays on public roads and in local authority car parks are a limited resource that must be managed in such a way as to ensure they are available for those for whom they are, in the simplest and most practical terms, absolutely essential. A motorist who chooses to park in one of these specially designated spaces without holding a valid permit is, therefore, not only guilty of breaking a parking regulation but is actively choosing to take a space away from someone who genuinely needs it and depriving that person of access to essential services.

This brings us to the question of what might constitute an appropriate penalty for this kind of behaviour. The Senator has proposed that unauthorised parking in a disabled space be made a penalty point offence. While I share the Senator's abhorrence of this infringement, the Department of Transport considers it neither necessary nor appropriate that it be made a penalty point offence. I will outline for the Senator the reasons and the rationale that have been given to me.

It is a general principle that penalty points are applied only for driving offences. Only one parking offence, dangerous parking, is included as a penalty point offence and that is because it directly affects moving traffic. Motorists who park illegally in a designated disabled bay meanwhile currently face a fixed-charge penalty, as the Senator said, of €150 rising to €225 if not paid within 28 days. By way of context, I note that most other parking offences incur a €40 fine. A decision was taken in 2018 by the previous Minister for Transport and former constituency colleague of mine, Mr. Shane Ross, to substantially increase the penalty for parking in a disabled space to reflect the gravity and anti-social nature of the offence. The penalty incurred for this offence is now the highest of all fixed-charge penalties for driving and parking offences.

I welcome Senator Boyhan's contribution and share his determination that disabled parking spaces be safeguarded for those who need them. However, the Department of Transport does not consider it appropriate that this offence, the fixed charge for which is nearly four times that of most other fixed-charge parking offences, be included in the penalty points system.

I have heard the points the Senator made on enforcement, equality and accessibility. He asked whether we are committed to supporting those with disabilities. All Departments must consistently reflect on that question and make sure we improve services for people with disabilities in whatever form that might take.