The number of fines issued for illegally parking in a disabled bay in Dublin has increased by almost a third in three years, new figures show.
It is an offence to park a vehicle in a disabled parking space in Ireland without possessing a valid permit card. The fixed penalty charge if caught is €150, which increases to €225 if not paid within 28 days.
According to figures released by the four local authorities in Dublin, there were 1,019 fines issued last year for parking in a disabled bay, compared with 789 in 2019 — an increase of 29 per cent. A total of 886 fines were issued in 2020.
Dublin city council said fines for parking in a disabled bay were only introduced in the constituency on November 1, meaning that before this, the responsibility lay solely with gardai. The council issued a total of five fines throughout November and December last year.
A total of 681 fines for parking in a disabled bay were issued by the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county council last year, compared with 469 in 2019 — an increase of 45 per cent. There were 631 fines issued by the council in 2020.
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South Dublin county council issued 162 fines to drivers caught parking in a disabled bay last year, compared to 107 in 2020 and 143 in 2019. A total of 171 fines were sent by Fingal county council last year, while 148 were issued in 2020 and 177 in 2019.
Gary Kearny, a spokesman for the Disability Federation of Ireland, said the increased number of fines was likely a combination of better enforcement and an increase non-compliance.
“People are lazy,” he said. “People will park where it is handy for them and that hasn’t changed. There’s only so many disabled bays in Dublin and most people who use them have their own favourite spots so they’re used to using the same bays all the time.”
Kearny said it was “humiliating” for a disabled person to witness a driver illegally parking in a bay. “It’s insulting and degrading — it makes them feel unimportant,” he said.
“It’s real ‘I don’t care about you, you being disabled is not my problem — I’m parking here because I’m more important than you and you don’t count’. Often when a disabled person sees this kind of stuff happening they ask themselves, ‘why do I bother going out at all?’”
