Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to examine the operation of clamping companies and the practice of clamping by local authorities. [12070/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Section 101B of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (inserted by Section 9 of the Dublin Transport Authority (Dissolution) Act, 1987), provides for the clamping and/or towing of vehicles illegally parked on a public road or in local authority car parks by either a member of the Gárda Síochána, a person appointed in writing by a local authority for said purposes, or a traffic warden. There is currently no regulation of clamping companies nor of the activity of clamping on private land.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to regulate the vehicle clamping industry, I presented a discussion document to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht in which I outlined the principal issues to be addressed in regulating the industry, my proposals on the shape of appropriate legislation and invited their views. The Committee responded to me in a comprehensive report which contained a number of recommendations, many of which I hope to include in the resulting legislation.   Preparation of the General Scheme of the Bill is at an advanced stage in my Department and I hope to be in a position to bring legislation before the Oireachtas in 2013.