DART USERS who avail of local authority park-and-ride facilities in south Dublin will face a 21 per cent increase in parking charges in September following the introduction of VAT charges on local authority services.
Their northside neighbours however will not be subjected to the same increase as local authorities differ in how they handle a new VAT regime.
Parking charges at car parks owned by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council will increase by 60 cents to €1 for all-day parking and 20 cents for hourly parking.
The Department of Finance was forced to introduce changes in the VAT for local authorities after private car park operators complained to the European Commission they had to charge VAT, while local authorities operating off-street parking were exempt.
The European Court of Justice ruled that Ireland had not implemented an EU directive which requires that if a public body carries on activities also being carried on by a private competitor, then the public body must charge VAT.
Following the ruling, the new regulations were introduced under the Finance Act 2010.
Activities that incur VAT include household waste collection, recycling and off-street parking. Individual local authorities have made decisions on a service-by-service basis about whether to pass on the VAT.
While Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has decided to pass on the VAT to its car park customers, Dublin City Council has opted to absorb the VAT on its off-street parking charges. The 17 car parks affected are in Blackrock, Dalkey, Dún Laoghaire, Dundrum and Monkstown and include all council car parks beside Dart stations.
Charges at car parks with a rate of €5 a day will increase to €6 a day from September. The €3 a day rate will increase to €3.60 a day and car parks charging €1 an hour will increase to €1.20.
The cost of on-street car parking in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will not increase.
