Sir, – Further to "Dublin street parking charges to increase by up to 70 per cent" (January 28th), one has to ask if this is a short-sighted move by Dublin City Council.
As a person who must drive to work as transport links from one side of Dublin to the other are not nearly as efficient as driving, I often stop in town on my way home.
Both last Thursday and Friday I did so, with unplanned purchases of about €100 between the two visits.
Retail outlets depend on this type of custom. Such stops in urban villages such as Ranelagh and Rathmines would also become prohibitive with these changes.
Both town and villages within the city are struggling in terms of getting customers into their premises as we have seen from recent articles about the increase in online shopping.
Recent VAT increases must have hit service providers also.
It seems if you want a thriving city with shops and other customer-based services you need to facilitate easy access for those customers. – Yours, etc,
NIAMH
BYRNE,
Fairview,
Dublin 3.