Kildare County Council asked to end the practice of outsourcing pay parking enforcement

The practice of outsourcing pay parking enforcement must end at the next available opportunity, and change to a service directly provided by council staff.

These were the sentiments expressed by Sinn Féin councillor Noel Connolly at the latest full Kildare County Council (KCC) meeting, which was held online yesterday afternoon.

Cllr Connolly put forward a motion to KCC expressing his beliefs, but its report responding to his motion, KCC said: "The outsourcing of pay parking services has proven to be an efficient mechanism for the regulation of the Road Traffic Regulations, Parking Bye-Laws and Policies as adopted by the elected members in both on-street and off-street parking.

"It is important to note that this service is managed and monitored by the Transportation Department to ensure that the service provider is meeting the requirements.

KCC continued: "The management of parking services would require a significant capital investment in technological solutions for both the management of the service from a council perspective and the availability of means to pay for parking services.

"The employment of additional staff to manage these services as well as the procurement and purchase of all the technical software, hardware and supporting services would be significant and not deemed value for money at the present time.

"The Transportation Directorate intend to tender for parking management services in 2024 to ensure that the best value for money is achieved in the administration of this."

Sinn Féin Cllr Noel Connolly put forward the motion at KCC's full meeting yesterday.

Cllr Connolly admitted that he was disappointed by this response.

He explained: "I am disappointed to see the report has no detail in relation to the financial arrangement between the KCC and the outsourced provider Apcoa.

"In this year’s budget we learned that the maintenance and management of car parking costs €2.1 million euro, with an income of €2.5 million.

"It is my opinion that the public would be better served by a paid parking enforcement system that is operated directly by council staff."

Cllr Connolly added that in the context of Kildare town, 'not a week goes by' without someone contacting him, asking why they have been fined and or clamped by Apcoa on a Saturday or Sunday.

He continued: "Residents and frequent visitors to Kildare Town will know that we don’t charge for on street parking
at the weekend.

"However, there are a number of private areas, some indistinguishable from public parking areas, which are confusing people and leading to people being fined that should not be... I know the same happens in Naas and probably happens in other areas of the county.

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"Anyone who has had to appeal a fine will know that Apcoa are not very sympathetic: we saw the recent success of one of their customers in the small claims court, and I would urge anyone with a grievance to take a similar route."

Cllr Connolly further said: "Anyone who attended the AILG conference in Sligo two weeks ago heard that there is a disconnect
happening between councils and the public, in many cases due to outsourcing and the failure of the public to see the value of services being delivered by Councils.

"Public money paying for public jobs keeps this money in the Community, instead of giving it to a company whose parent company is based in the UK.

"The agenda report gives the impression that we don’t already significantly invest in parking infrastructure, yet last, September KCC purchased new coin and card parking machines for Droichead Nua and Kildare Town, with a view to rolling them out in Athy, Naas, Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth and Kilcock over the following months. We also learned at our July meeting that the Apcoa App is already significantly subsidised by KCC.

He concluded: "In an ideal world, council staff would not only enforce pay parking rules; as community wardens, they would act as litter wardens, address dog fouling, report dogs roaming loose, and be the eyes and ears of the council in relation to the upkeep of the public realm."