The Irish Mail on Sunday

‘Self ish’ drivers add to disabled misery

- By Anne Sheridan

A PLEA to extend parking permits for disabled drivers from two to five years has been turned down by Shane Ross, and he blamed the number of able motorists ‘selfishly’ using fraudulent permits.

The refusal follows a crackdown that saw nearly 7,000 people penalised for abusing the system.

The Transport Minister denounced the ‘scourge’ and criticised the able users, but added: ‘I appreciate that a longer validity period would prove more convenient to the user.

‘This convenienc­e, however, pales in comparison to the serious challenge posed to the entire disabled parking scheme by the fraudulent use of permits.’

He told Fianna Fáil TD for SligoLeitr­im Eamon Scanlon in the Dáil: ‘In order to combat this scourge and ensure that disabled parking bays are available to those who genuinely need them, it is crucial that every permit be carefully tracked and any unused permit be taken out of circulatio­n. It is for this reason that any extension of the validity period has been ruled out for the time being.’

He also said a proposed separate renewal process for the over-70s is ‘unworkable’ because permits are issued on the basis of mobility impairment not age, and a separate process would ‘risk sending out the wrong message that the permit is an age-related entitlemen­t’.

A total of 6,727 fixed charge notices have now been issued nationwide for parking offences in disabled bays since gardaí began Operation Enable on March 1, 2017 – some 2,589 in the first year and 4,138 last year, a 60% increase on the previous year.

 ??  ?? no change: Minister in charge Shane Ross
no change: Minister in charge Shane Ross

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