Summer spike in parking fines

AS well as having some of the worst traffic problems in Kerry, Dingle also has the highest level of parking fines, outside of the major towns of Tralee and Killarney.

During the winter only a handful of parking tickets are handed out each month in Dingle. But in the summer the graph rises dramatically and more drivers get tickets here than they do in Listowel, Ballybunion, Killorglin, Cahersiveen or Kenmare.

Figures obtained by The Kerryman under a Freedom of Information request show that, from the start of this year up to August 31, Listowel Municipal District issued 69 parking fines, Ballybunion 46, Castleisland 104, Cahersiveen, 85, Kenmare 83, and Killorglin 271. In Dingle the number of parking fines issued in the same period was 822.

In most of those towns the number of parking fines increases during the summer, but none come close to the dramatic rise seen in Dingle where the number of fines went from seven in January to 169 in June, 222 in July and 212 in August. The comparative figures for Kenmare, which also has a busy tourism season, are: January, 1 parking fine; June, 9; July, 19; August, 21.

Even the tourism capital of Killarney doesn’t see the dramatic rise in parking offences that we have in Dingle. In January Killarney handed out 262 parking tickets and maintained a fairly even spread of fines each month up to August when 358 fines were issued.