Sir, – Here in Monkstown in Dublin, where I live, two disabled parking spaces which were instituted as part of a road upgrade some time ago were abolished by an unelected official from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Council recently. The spaces, beside the local Spar shop, were simply painted over and double yellow lines installed.
This was done without notice or consultation. When I contacted local councillors they told me it was the first they had heard of this having been done.
They also confirmed that they, as elected representatives, did not have the power to order the reinstatement of the spaces.They also told me that the reasons given for the action were that widespread illegal parking was taking place there and that local residents had complained of difficulty in exiting their driveways (surprising given that the avenue in question is one-way).
Illegal parking was indeed taking place and continues to do so. The illegal parkers have, thus, not lost out, merely disabled people like myself who use the shop.
And do the rights of the local residents to exit their homes more easily count for more than the rights of disabled people to use their local shop?
In the week in which the difficulties of disabled people in accessing public transport were highlighted, this is just another example of official attitudes towards this section of society.
It seems equality only applies to more high-profile minorities. – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’DONNELL,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.