Galway City Council has voted to limit car clamping and transfer primary responsibility for parking enforcement to traffic and community wardens.
The new measures, which have been widely welcomed, will be introduced from Monday.
Clampers have been rebuked from the pulpit and condemned from almost every quarter over the past three years in Galway, and they were forced to issue a public apology almost two years ago when they clamped two cars outside a doctor's surgery during a medical emergency.
The new system will still allow for the clamping of vehicles illegally parked on main thoroughfares, at bus stops, taxi ranks, in a disabled driver's space, on a footpath, on a median strip, at a junction, in a casual trading or pedestrianised area, but only with the co-operation of traffic wardens.
Significantly, clamping in public car parks and at pay-and-display areas will be eliminated, but ticket prices and fines for offences will increase.
The city council intends to spend €750,000 on a barrier control system for public car parks.
Where a motorist exceeds paid-ticket time, he or she will no longer be clamped. Instead, there will be a 10-minute "grace period" before a penalty is issued by a warden. The penalties for such parking offences are due to increase from €19 to €40 on Monday.
The hourly rate for parking in local authority areas of Galway will increase from €1.80 per hour for a maximum two-hour period, and minimum payment will be €1 for 30 minutes. Minimum payment time has been set at an hour at a rate of €1.50.
The city council will still run a tow-away system where a vehicle is causing an obstruction, but this will also be on the basis of instigation by a traffic or community warden.
A spokesman for Galway City Council said the existing contract with Control Plus was operating on a month-by-month basis, and it was planned to advertise a new contract for a one-year period, with a review after six months.
He said there would be no significant revenue implications as the clamping contract cost €610,000 last year and projected income from clamp-removal fines during the same period amounted to €420,000.
The city earns more than €4 million from parking fees and clamping fines annually, but spent €1.4 million on maintaining the system in 2004, giving net income of €2.7 million.
Under the new system, an independent appeals officer to deal with clamping issues will be appointed.
