Cork councillors say residents' parking permit system is driving people round the bend

'Overly onerous proofs' are required from applicants for the permit which, councillors say, is almost impossible to get

One woman sent in letters from her phone provider, a peace commissioner, and a commissioner of oaths on top of other documents just to get a residents' parking permit. Stock picture

Cork’s new residents’ parking permit system is driving applicants round the bend and is now almost “impossible to get”, it has been claimed.

City councillors called for the requirement on applicants to provide proof of household insurance to be dropped and said several other “overly onerous proofs” are causing frustration and lengthy delays.

The new, more robust policy was introduced last March in a bid to curb abuse of the permit system arising out of a review of the entire system requested by city councillors in 2021.

The city council first heard complaints about the new policy last November when it was claimed that some people were facing waits of up to 13 weeks for a residents’ parking permit.

But Independent councillor Ken O’Flynn raised new concerns during  Monday’s council meeting at which Independent councillor Thomas Maloney said the council should put its hands up and “admit it got this wrong”.

The new policy requires an additional piece of information to be submitted by an applicant depending on the nature of their residency.

Homeowners must submit the page of their home insurance policy and, if an applicant does not have home insurance, they can submit other details to demonstrate home ownership, such as the title deeds of the property.

Tenants must submit proof the property or tenancy is registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.

City officials said last November that a significant factor in “perceived delays” acquiring permits was the submission of “incomplete applications”, with about 40% of all applications received being deemed incomplete. But several councillors told Monday’s meeting that they are still being inundated with complaints about it.

Mr O’Flynn said the permit has now become almost “impossible to get”.

“I had a situation on Shandon St where a member of the third generation living in the same property, who had passed her driving test, had to jump through rings, despite having a letter from a peace commissioner confirming she was a resident of the house, despite having a letter from Vodafone, and various other documents, including a letter from a commissioner of oaths, and yet it wasn’t accepted by the council decided we wanted to see her house insurance,” he said.

In another case, he said a man living in the house he inherited from his parents in 1962 was asked to provide proof of planning permission for the property during the permit application process.

“We brought in this new policy to make it easier, more efficient. It now seems to me that we’ve done the reverse of that,” he said.

Independent councillor Paudie Dineen said it is crazy that people “living over the business” must acquire a second eircode for the parking permit and he accused officials of “copying and pasting” the same replies to councillors’ complaints about it. He said: 

When you see 10, 12, and 14 councillors sending in the same motion with the same issues, there is something wrong, and somebody has to pay attention to this.

Labour councillor John Maher said while councillors voted to approve the new policy, it is clear that issues have arisen for those who have to use the system, and that it isn’t working.

FG councillor Des Cahill, chair of the city’s roads strategic policy committee, said many of the issues have been resolved in recent weeks but he said he will provide an update to the end of 2022 for councillors before February’s meeting.