A QUOTA of 32,400 annual parking fines as required in a current tender for parking enforcement services for Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown County Council has been described as “anti-business” by a local restaurateur.
Padraic Hanley, who runs Ouzos Bar Grill in both Dalkey and Blackrock, said the performance target was “totally and utterly bizarre”, and called on the council to scrap the quota.
The businessman made his comments after a tender published by the council in mid-June stipulated that the successful tenderer would be required to issue 2,700 valid parking tickets per calendar month or 32,400 tickets a year.
It also stated that a failure by the company to achieve this target would result in the contractor getting a fine of €1,200 per 100 valid parking tickets, which would be deducted from the company’s annual invoice.
Mr Hanley said he was “horrified” at the quota. “Anyone who lives in Dún Laoghaire will tell you it’s far from benign. Most of the people caught out are those who have parked in a space, paid their ticket and may be coming back five or 10 minutes late. The level of enforcement is draconian.”
A spokeswoman for the council defended its position, saying the issuing of fines was an “essential element” of its traffic management system. “The baseline performance target of 2,700 valid parking fines per month represents a reduction in the level of enforcement from the current position, and there is no financial incentive for the successful tenderer to exceed the target.”