Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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634. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will amend road traffic legislation to provide local authorities the power to designate, in very limited circumstances and where clear need has been shown, certain residential streets (details supplied) as being streets where it is lawful to park on the footpath up to a designated white line, which white line would not extend beyond lamp posts already built on the footpath, thereby causing no alteration in the position of pedestrians, especially vulnerable ones, but would assist in remedying the grievous and highly dangerous situation which prevails at present. [5891/15]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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637. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport , further to Parliamentary Question No. 287 of 25 September 2014, if he will provide an update on same; and if he will clarify the situation in view of his correspondence (details supplied). [5982/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to takes Questions Nos. 634 and 637 together.

Under the Traffic and Parking Regulations, partial parking of vehicles on pavements is currently not permitted.

In June 2014, following representations on the issue, my predecessor indicated that he would ask the National Transport Authority (NTA) to examine the issue further and to consider the possibility of introducing a pilot scheme for partial parking on pavements.

The NTA has recently responded and has indicated that, after extensive consideration of the request and consultation with local authorities and informally with An Garda Síochána, the introduction of permitted parking on footpaths is "highly undesirable and problematic".  The key concerns arising from permitting any partial parking of vehicles on pavements are that  footpaths are intended to provide a safe route for pedestrians and to segregate them from other road users, thereby enhancing road safety and protecting the most vulnerable of our road users, including children, the impaired and the elderly.  Furthermore, footpaths are not designed or constructed to take the weight of cars or heavier goods vehicles.  Allowing footpaths to be so used for parking will lead to more rapid deterioration of the footpath surface, further increasing maintenance costs and providing greater trip hazards for pedestrians.

The safety of all road users must be at the core of traffic and parking regulations. In light of all the evidence, I am of the view that safety considerations for pedestrians outweigh any benefits from the proposal to allow partial parking on footpaths in any circumstances and I have no plan to change the Traffic and Parking Regulations to allow for this.