Dublin motorists face higher parking costs this winter, including the introduction of an annual £1,200 parking permit and an end to free on-street parking on Sundays. The measures, which follow the revelations that the Government is to introduce a tax on employee car-parking, will be voted on by city councillors in October.
Dublin Corporation is proposing the annual £1,200 parking permit as an alternative to feeding a meter several times a day. The permit would allow a motorist to park in any public on-street parking spot in Dublin.
The corporation is also proposing the introduction of paid parking in the city centre on Sundays from midday to 7 p.m. and extending paid parking in certain parts of the city to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The director of traffic for Dublin and assistant city manager, Mr Owen Keegan, has indicated he is anxious to step up enforcement of parking laws.
In the corporation's submission to the Department of Finance on the introduction of benefit-in-kind on employee car-parking, Mr Keegan said parking policy measures must be accompanied by "appropriate enforcement action".
"It clearly makes little sense from a financial and traffic-management perspective to impose parking restrictions including charging for on-street parking and to tolerate a high level of non-compliance and non-payment."
At present the costs of "free" employee parking are borne by businesses and by public-sector organisations. From a strict economic perspective, the provision of free employee parking was both unfair and regressive, said Mr Keegan in his submission.
"It is unfair because employees who do not use their cars generally receive no equivalent subsidy. It is regressive since employees in the latter category are likely to be on lower incomes," he added.
Mr Keegan said in relation to benefit-in-kind that parking spaces should be valued on the basis of their annual market rental value.
"In the case of Dublin, it would be possible for the corporation to produce reliable estimates of the annual market rent for off-street car-parking in different parts of the city. These estimates would form the basis of the valuations which employees would be obliged to use."
Mr Keegan said benefit-in-kind should be applicable in all cases where employees had access to free off-street parking provided directly or indirectly by an employer. The only exemption should apply to disabled drivers. "There is clearly a need for BIK on workplace car-parking in Dublin. There may also be an argument on the grounds of equity to apply BIK in the other major urban centres in the country where the problem of traffic congestion is increasing." Mr Keegan suggested the scheme could be introduced on a sliding scale over two or three years.