Parking fines issued to people at Mass

November 1985

Some motorists in Enniscorthy are angry at what they consider to be a mean act by Gardai after tickets for parking offences were issued while they were at Mass.

Car owners emerging from the regularly 10 o’clock morning Mass in St Aidan’s Cathedral on Wednesday morning were annoyed and quite disgruntled to find the familiar ‘on the spot’ summons blowing gaily from behind their windscreen wipers.

Cars parked on the left hand side of Cathedral Street, both above and below the chapel gates, had tickets placed on them.

It has been the normal practice to park on both sides of the road during Mass times, and motorists were insistent on Wednesday that parking tickets had never been issued in this respect before, with others stating that they genuinely believed they were excluded during Mass times.

The situation was clarified by Sergeant Martin Freeman. He said parking is illegal from Duffry Post Office to Murphy Flood’s corner, and this is not the first time that tickets have been issued for illegal parking during Mass time.

He said Gardai have a duty to enforce regulations and they cannot ‘ turn a blind eye’ to illegally-parked vehicles.

‘When a Garda is on the street, how is he or she supposed to know if the owner of an illegally parked car is at Mass?’ he asked. ‘If a car is illegaly parked, and/or causing a traffic obstruction, it is up to the Garda to deal with it, whether it is on Cathedral Street during Mass time or anywhere else at any other time,’ he added.