'I'm very annoyed' - casual trader took up three times the allocated parking space in Leitrim town

A casual trader came into Drumshanbo, Leitrim on Thursday and Friday of last week, and blocked several car parking spaces for two days, a Leitrim councillor said at the recent Ballinamore MD meeting.

Cllr Enda McGloin said the "casual trader took up about three times the size of his allocated bay and I was really really annoyed about that. And not only that, but he stayed an extra day."

He was speaking after a motion put forward by Cllr Gary Prior which called for more parking spaces for Ballinamore. 

Cllr McGloin added: "Car parking is being eroded in the town. We are advocating for increasing rates to provide more infrastructure for the town but we do a disservice to our rate payers by not providing car parks and allowing a scenario where a casual trader can take the car parking places that they need to drive on their businesses."

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Cllr Roisin Kenny agreed that car parking was "badly needed" in Ballinamore, before adding "when you are up at the funeral home in the evenings, that's where it really strikes you; there is a full underground car park under Tesco and it's a shame it's not open for shoppers to use it. I hope that when the Line Road is taken over by the council, that those parking places would also become available but there would still be the need for extra car parking spaces in the town centre."

Cllr Gary Prior noted that on the Line Road, "some of the buses park there and take up nearly four places each." 

Cllr Roisin Kenny noted that there "are a load of cones bolted to the road down there" also causing disruption.

Cllr Ita Reynolds-Flynn also supported the motion.