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We should take a fresh look at pay parking

Plans are afoot to introduce parking charges in several towns throughout County Cork.

Why not make things simple and have only one disc to cover parking in any town in Cork?

Better still, extend that idea to have a common parking disc for all cities and towns in Ireland. Motorists would then not have to endure the holidaymaker’s nightmare. They would no longer need a bagful of parking discs for every town in the country. One disc would cover all.

We already pay road tax for the privilege of parking our cars. A small increase in road tax would mean there would be no need for parking discs anywhere. We pay road tax into the general exchequer. The government should specifically designate that money for local authorities to maintain our roads and cover our parking fees.

The truth is that the purpose of parking charges is to deter all-day parking. Some people cheat, by continuously replacing their discs once their time is up. Only strict policing will stop that. Parking fees are not the magic solution. Our planners should think again.

Michael Mernagh
Carrigaline
Co Cork Home

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