Corpo seeks 300% hike in parking rates

April 1977

Can Wexford Corporation impose a 300 per cent increase in the price of one of its services? That was the question posed at the monthly meeting on Tuesday night.

The question arose out of a complaint by Cllr. K.C. Morris over a jump in rent from £12 per year to £50 per year for car parking spaces in the Market Place in the Bull Ring.

Cllr. Morris thought this was an ‘exorbitant’ increase which smacked of ‘landlordism’. He pointed out that there were no garages but only open spaces and that on Friday and Saturday they could hardly be used because of traffic congestion in the Bull Ring.

The Town Clerk, Mr. Frank Kavanagh, told the meeting that the rent of £12 had been imposed in 1960 and it amounted to only 23p per week.

Mr. Noel Dillon, County Manager, said that £12 per year was absolutely uneconomical, particularly in view of the service being demanded by some of the tenants who rang up the Corporation complaining every time their space was blocked.

He referred to parking fees in Dublin and other cities and towns, which are around 5p per hour, and said he did not think that £1 per week for a secure parking spot in the middle of town was too much.

Mr. Dillon said that, in any event, the Corporation would have to start thinking about ‘the whole Market Place situation’.

Ald. Gus Byrne thought the increases were very unfair and said that if the Corporation was going to look at the overall situation in the area then the lower rents could remain for the present.

Cllr. John Roche suggested that the rent be increased to £25 this year and possibly to £50 next year, not subject to the Prices Commission with regard to such a massive increase.

It was agreed to increase the rents this year to £25, with a further review next year.