New parking metres are needed in town

Only 69 of the 82 parking meters in Sligo town are working, according to Sligo County Council.

A motion brought forward by Cllr Marie Casserly requested that an audit be carried out on all parking meters and that repairs be made if necessary.

Head of Finance Marie Whelan told councillors that 13 meters are not functional at present, while the majority of parking meters are without the option of paying using a credit card.

Ms Whelan stated that the machines were installed ten years ago and are now reaching the end of life, with major operational issues now arising with some. She said the only solution now would be to install entirely new machines as opposed to repairing the current ones, as there has been significant progression in terms of new areas of technology and the possibility of paying by phone.

Welcoming the report, Cllr Casserly said members of the public are frustrated by the difficulties with parking meters at present, and said the issue of many not taking credit cards is a major problem.

Cllr Casserly said she looked forward to a further update on the situation in the new year.

Seconding the motion, Cllr Sinead Maguire said that councillors were informed that there was a low tolerance of people who didn’t pay for parking, but now people are in a situation where they are unable to pay for parking due to a lack of fully functional meters.

No figure for a new set of meters was available as the audit of current meters has been completed, but the issue has not gone to tender.

An update is expected in 2018.