Concern over moves to privatise Limerick traffic warden duties

MOVES to privatise traffic warden duties in Limerick are facing strong opposition.

The city council is at present considering the privatisation of the service which employs five full-time traffic wardens.

A city hall spokesman in Limerick said: “We have initiated a review of the department in the contexts of the Croke Park agreement and one option is to outsource traffic enforcement. Another option is we will deploy additional people from other areas of the organisation.”

Limerick city traders claimthe huge drop in business was, in part, due to the traffic parking regulations, breach of which leads to on the spot fines of almost €40.

Former mayor Cllr Kevin Kiely said he would be totally opposed to the privatisation of the traffic wardens. “If you have a situation where you put a service like that out to tender you would have a company only interested in making money and slapping tickets on cars right, left and centre.”

One city businessman said: “As things stand the traffic parking regulations have driven people out into the suburban shopping centres where there is free parking. Even on Saturday morning, people coming into the city face (parking) tickets, even if they are a few minutes late getting back to their cars. Time and again, I hear people telling me they’ve been soured off coming into town by returning to their car after spending a lot of money in shops to find a ticket on the windscreen. If they privatise this, it is bound to lead to heavier enforcement as any private company will want to maximise its profit by dishing out as many tickets as it can.”