Sir, – John Waters has joined that illustrious group of Irishmen who suffered imprisonment for standing up for their principles, including Daniel O’Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell. What a pity his freedom has come too late for the naming of the new bridge across the Liffey – it could have been the “Bridge over troubled Waters”. Surely he at least deserves to be made a Freeman of Castlerea? – Yours, etc,
AIDAN COOKE,
Old Caulfield Road,
Dungannon,
Co Tyrone.
Sir, –John Waters will no doubt be indignant at the suggestion (Niall Ginty, September 4th) that he might henceforth be known as the Dún Laoghaire One. Surely, he’d insist on the Dalkey One! The special One from Dalkey (nee Roscommon) believes people should be able to meet and chat without the threat of having to rush off to avoid a parking penalty . . . and God knows that “free for all” mentality served us well in the past! – Yours, etc,
JOHN J O’GRADY,
Glenmaroon Road,
Dublin 20.
Sir, – John Waters reports that he was weighed and measured (News, Agenda, September 4th). The question is: was he found wanting? – Yours, etc,
NIALL McARDLE,
Wellington Street,
Eganville, Ontario,
Canada.
Sir, – It costs approximately €300 per day to keep a person in prison. Assuming that the arrest, transport and processing of the prisoner is probably the most expensive part of the operation, then John Waters’s recent escapade has probably cost the taxpayer about €1,000, plus forgiveness of the fine. Jailing people for parking fines in 2013 in the era of electronic attachment of wages and social welfare payments is nonsense. The Department of Justice should take lessons from the Revenue as to how it collected the property tax. – Yours, etc,
TIM BRACKEN,
Pope’s Quay,
Cork.
Sir, – Padraig O’Rourke (September 4th) wonders “why . . .it is not possible for off-street car parks to charge for the actual time involved”. The good news is that it is possible – indeed it is already being done in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, where John Waters had his brush with the law, as well as in Fingal, South Dublin and Dublin City council areas. All you need is a mobile phone, and a credit or debit car.
It works as follows. You register on the “Parking Tag” website and you are sent a bar code which you affix to your windscreen. When you leave your car, you estimate how long you will be away, and send a text to a short code number, giving the number of minutes of parking required, along with the two-letter code or colour code for the zone in which you are parking. This is displayed clearly on signage on each street in these areas. The parking fee is debited from your payment card, and there is no surcharge. You can pay for as many minutes you like. The system sends you two reminders by text. Parking wardens can see the bar code behind your windscreen, and will scan it to see if you have paid for your parking. You can simply send another text to pay for more minutes. Of course it means we will need to marshall new excuses if it turns out that our parking is not paid for even under this system, such as: “The battery on my mobile phone ran out”, or “My phone was on silent and I didn’t see the text reminders coming in”. We are human and our ability to justify ourselves is endless. – Yours. etc,
CONOR DALY,
Merville Road,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – John Waters seems to think when he pays for an hour at a parking meter he should be allowed an “extra” 20 minutes because people should be able to meet and chat “without the threat of having to rush off to avoid a parking penalty” (Home News, September 4th).
He seems to be advocating that a form of “light touch regulation” should apply to sociable car-drivers like himself. Surely this approach has been totally discredited in the fields of banking, house-building, etc? If it were applied to parking on public streets it would result in similar chaos.
On a more positive note, I look forward to reading of more Irish Times columnists doing some jail time.– Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Bayside Walk,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – In “The ultimate meaning of my Wheatfield ‘adventure’,” (Opinion, September 6th) John Waters quotes frequently from the writings of Vaclav Havel. When it comes to illegal parking perhaps he should heed the following Havel quote: “Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not”. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.