Call made for return of towing in Cork in a bid to tackle illegal parking 

The Lord Mayor of Cork has called for towing to be reinstated to tackle the issue of illegal parking in Cork.

Some 61,000 parking fines were issued across Cork city and county last year, The Echo can reveal. Information provided by Cork City Council revealed the local authority handed out 49,179 parking fines in 2024.

Cork County Council, meanwhile, issued 11,852 parking fines in the same period.

Green Party councillor Dan Boyle, Lord Mayor of Cork, has called for towing to be reinstated to tackle the issue of illegal parking.

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Boyle said: “Parking fines are not, and should not, be about revenue-raising. They should be about changing bad driver behaviour. Parking on footpaths; in disability spaces; parking in or on bus lanes and cycle lanes continues far too much.

“For bad parking, there can never be too many fines.”

When asked if he would welcome clamping in a bid to tackle illegal parking, Mr Boyle said he would instead opt to reintroduce towing.

“Clamping keeps vehicles in the wrong places,” he said. 

“We should reintroduce towing.” 

Cork city councillors made the decision to terminate the council’s clamping and towing operation around 15 years ago.

Cost

At a council meeting last month, a spokesperson for the authority’s executive explained this was due to a number of reasons, including: “The negative publicity/reaction to the service, the negative impact on shoppers and visitors to the city, and the net annual negative cost”.

The spokesperson added that the service cost the council around €328,000 per year, with the clamping element of the contract subsidising the cost of the towing element.

“Cork City Council’s experience demonstrated the very high cost of operating a towing service,” the spokesperson said.

 “These costs included plant, manpower, storage yard, administrative overheads etc. Based on the above, the reintroduction of towing would be a retrograde step.

“It is imperative that alternative remedies — physical infrastructure/impediments, increase in parking charges, reduction of permits etc — should be explored in response to specified and demonstrated issues at identified locations where there is evidence of sustained and illegal dangerous parking.”

Driver behaviour 

Speaking at the same meeting, Labour councillor John Maher called on the council to reintroduce towing.

“I accept the report but, once again, we’re talking about driver behaviour and our lack of action to address it across the city,” he said.

“We’re constantly asking about putting in more street furniture and planting, but that’s not being done, and the illegal parking continues.”

Mr Maher said he counted 42 illegally parked cars in just one day last month. Fellow Labour councillor Peter Horgan backed Mr Maher’s call to reintroduce towing in Cork city.

However, he also highlighted the need for people to take personal responsibility for their parking and for increased and visible enforcement of parking laws.

“The scourge of illegal parking can be simply addressed by driver behaviour changing to not simply abandoning your car wherever you feel like it,” said Mr Horgan.

“Whether it is for a match or going into town for a meal, you must park responsibly. We need to see enforcement enforced by the enforcers. Otherwise the clamour for towing and clamping will continue to grow and I am against clamping as a measure of parking enforcement.”