Too many people are being granted disabled parking permits, the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) said today.
The association presented the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey with a report on the Disabled Person's Parking Permit Scheme that found the number of disabled parking spaces is not keeping pace with the amount of permits being issued.
The report estimates there will be 14,000 permits issued by the end of the year up from 3,000 in 2002. It says there are around 30,000 permits in use and that lenient criteria for their issue is leading to insufficient space for those a genuine need.
The report says that only 10 per cent of applicants for a permit are meeting the full criteria, while most of the remainder receive their permits with the help of a certificate issued by doctors - who often use liberal criteria in deciding on need.
"This defect has been instrumental in the significant increase in the number of parking permits in circulation . . . we seriously question the scheme's ability to fulfil its designed function," the IWA report says.
The report says some permits are being obtained fraudulently but that it is not aware of any prosecutions for the offence.
It also claims that the absence of uniformity in parking bay design renders some allocated spaces "completely useless".
The report makes number of recommendations including the creation of strict criteria for the issue of permits with applications considered an independent assessor where necessary.