Workers putting free Christmas parking scheme in jeopardy
Municipal Authority giving serious consideration to pulling the incentive due to workers in town taking advantage of spaces from early morning
THE annual free-parking initiative that is traditionally in place in Enniscorthy in the run-up to Christmas might not go ahead this year.
In their regular newsletter to members issued yesterday (Monday), Enniscorthy Chamber and the Executive of the Enniscorthy Business Association stated that employees of town centre businesses are continuing to park their vehicles in areas designed for customer parking.
The two organisations said that this is having a detrimental effect on shoppers coming into Enniscorthy and is preventing the town from achieving its full potential in attracting business and shoppers.
Such is the seriousness of the situation it’s believed the local authority is actively considering withdrawing the ‘free-parking’ incentive that is usually in place before Christmas as it would be ‘of little or no value to the shopping public’ due to parking spaces being taken up all day by people working in town.
A 29-YEAR-OLD Enniscorthy man who assaulted three gardaí in Templeshannon was spared jail as Judge Gerard Haughton felt a head injury may have contributed to his violent behaviour.
Jamie Lafferty from 5 O’Brien’s Range, Enniscorthy, admitted the assaults on officers who attempted to come to his rescue in the early hours of July 16 last year.
The District Court learned that gardaí arrived shortly after 1 a.m. in time to see the defendant fall and hit his head on the ground.
An ambulance was called to aid the unconscious accused but, as they waited for the paramedics, Lafferty came to.
He stood up and, in a highly intoxicated state, he became aggressive.
He lashed out striking Garda Downes. He then hit Garda Collins under the eye.
As he continued kicking out, assistance was called and three more gardaí came to the scene.
Lafferty then head-butted Garda McGrath before incapacitant spray was deployed to subdue him.
In court, solicitor Caitriona Walsh acknowledged that the injured parties were trying to assist her client.
He had been drinking heavily during the day leading up to the assaults, she revealed.
Lafferty, father of two children, was disgusted with himself and offered apologies, she added.
He had very little memory of the events described, said Ms Walsh, telling the court that the accused later needed stitches and underwent concussion assessment.
Five-month sentences were recorded for each assault but they were suspended, once the defendant contributes €500 to the garda benevolent fund.