Almost 100 parking tickets issued to motorists after MacCurtain St revamp

ALMOST 100 parking tickets have been issued in and around the revamped MacCurtain St area in the 15 days since it was officially reopened by Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

The reconfigured, now two-way MacCurtain St was opened on Saturday, November 25, by Mr Martin, and in the two weeks to Sunday, December 10, some 99 fixed-charge penalty notices (FCPN) were issued for the area.

Figures released to Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, and confirmed to The Echo by City Hall, show that in the first 15 days since the revised layout was opened, an average of 6.6 parking tickets were issued every day in the city’s former Victorian Quarter.

The area covered by the FCPN figures encompasses MacCurtain St, Coburg St, Devonshire St, Pine St, Leitrim St, and St Patrick’s Quay.

There have been multiple complaints about illegal parking in the area since MacCurtain St has reopened, with at least one trader posting photographs of illegally parked vehicles on social media.

A breakdown of the parking tickets issued in the McCurtain St area shows that the majority of tickets issued (37) were for the offence of parking on a footpath, while 21 were ticketed for the offence of parking in a loading bay, and 18 drivers were fined for failing to display a valid parking disc.

Eight people were issued tickets for the offence of parking a vehicle at a time prohibited, six for parking in an area designated no parking, and four for failing to display a current vehicle licensing disc.

Three drivers were issued a ticket for the offence of parking wholly or partially at a bus stop, while one person was fined for parking on double yellow lines and one was ticketed for the offence of parking “with flow bus lane”.

At last Monday’s December meeting of Cork City Council, the council’s director of services, David Joyce, told Green Party councillor Dan Boyle that traffic wardens will soon patrol the MacCurtain St area in the evenings and on Sundays as part of a new pilot scheme which will extend enforcement times.

Mr Joyce said planning for the pilot scheme, which will last for 10 weeks, was under way, and, once preparation was complete, it was envisaged that it would run during the first quarter of 2024.