*Abbey Street.
LACK OF PARKING in Ennis town centre caused further division and debate between elected members in the county town.
Parking spaces have not been lost but “repurposed” according to an Acting Director in Clare County Council while the Mayor of Ennis said regularly discussing a parking shortage is harmful to the town while a Sinn Féin councillor has said the conduct of Ennis 2040 supporters in the local authority shows “ye are losing the argument” with a member of the board for the DAC expressing the view that Ennis had insufficient parking as “bunkum”.
An update on car parking spaces lost due to public realm works, Active Travel, safe school routes, construction of the new library in Ennis on Causeway Link and Ennis Community College were sought by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF).
In a reply to a motion on the subject in November 2023, the Ennis Municipal District stated that 159 on and off-street car parking spaces were lost over a fifteen year period in the county town.
Acting Director of Services, Seán Lenihan began his response by flagging that the amount of parking spaces in Ennis “is somewhat fluid and can go up and go down. Overall, in Ennis, we have almost 3000 spaces throughout the town which favours very well in comparison to towns of similar size throughout the country. For example, we have one parking space for every 13 people living within the town, while Waterford City has one parking space for every 29 people and Navan has one parking space for every 24 people”.
To “improve pedestrian safety and universal accessibility” for the €11.5m public realm works, Active Travel measures and Safe Routes to School, “we have had to forego some spaces,” Lenihan confirmed. “We also increase our offering at peak times such as Match days and Christmas time by making Council HQ, Waterpark House and the Courthouse parking available. Moreover, we will soon see almost 350 spaces added as part of the Cloister Carpark proposal as well as the recently permitted new Lidl Store on the Clare Road”. Upcoming reviews of the parking bye laws for Ennis and environs will see “extensive engagement and consultation,” he confirmed.
Noting that the reply didn’t answer his question as to how many more than the 159 spaces had been lost, Cllr O’Callaghan repeated, “how many more have we lost since then”. He said he supported public realm works, “for each space we lose it impacts on economic activity, each space lost is €8 per hour”. Spaces have been lost on O’Connell Street, at glór and Bank Place, “I fully support the work that is ongoing, to lose those spaces it affects the economic viability of our existing businesses”.
Of the almost 3000 spaces in Ennis, Cllr O’Callaghan said he didn’t dispute the figure but flagged 1400 of which were in private ownership. He referenced a 2008 report on parking in Ennis which was often cited by former councillor, Johnny Flynn which detailed there was short of 1000 spaces in the town. “I don’t think we’ve created more than 1000 spaces, I welcome the Cloister development, we have to look at where we can build more car spaces and multi-storey is something I believe in,” he said. A data assessment to analyse peak times is needed, he said, “the facts are already there in previous report from Council, we now need to look and embrace how we maximise more. If we’ve lost 159 potentially spaces, we’ve another 80 lost now on projects which we support”.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) remarked, “parking in Ennis is at a premium, until we can provide parking for business owners and staff there will always be a shortage of car parking spaces, it will probably mean building a multi-storey car park”.
“You’re referencing a planning report which is twenty years old,” said Cllr Mary Howard (FG). She said an upcoming behind-closed-doors briefing with traffic wardens would detail between sixty to eighty percent car parking spaces in Ennis are “taken up by staff”. She stressed, “a lot has happened since 2008, Aldi and the multi-storey car park wasn’t’ there, the island car park was brought into play, Waterpark Campus has been extended, St Columbus Church is there for people who work on Bindon St, the Cloister is there and Holy Family”.
She continued, “Using a report from 2008 is very disingenuous to what is in Ennis today, we need to stop referencing the report from 2008, it is no relevance to the town and how we live our life, you’ve a couple of hundred parking spots that have come in since 2008, Ennis is a completely different place, internet shopping has taken over since COVID”. While dispelling the previous report, Cllr Howard maintained “solid information” was needed. “The big bad wolf when dealing with Ennis and retail is online, we’re all stuck behind the lorries delivering to people online”.
Efforts could be made to get staff using in the multi-storey car park, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) suggested, he acknowledged it was not in public ownership but flagged that it was “fairly empty” on any occasion he uses it. “There is an issue of staff taking up the Abbey St and Parnell St car parks”.
Lenihan voiced agreement with the comments of Cllr Howard, “looking back on historical reports written in a point of time and context isn’t how we do our business, we’re data driven, we’ve a number of more recent surveys which give us the facts and figures to show us the reality on the ground, I don’t like looking back, I’m looking at the here and now”. Provision of a multi-storey car park was initially envisaged in the Ennis 2040 strategy, he noted, the same strategy also initially planned to remove two riverside car parks in the town. “If there was huge demand for a multi-story car park then the market would have filled it but nobody has come”.
He continued, “I’m driving around Ennis for 30 years, I’ve never been inside the door of either of the multi-storey car parks, you might not get outside the shop but I’ve always found a parking spot in all my time driving”. 100 extra spaces have been offered on occasions between Waterpark House, the headquarters of Clare County Council and Ennis Courthouse. “I don’t share view that parking is at a premium, parking outside the door is,” Lenihan said. “I don’t look back into the 2008 report, I don’t accept it, rather than using the word lost, I’d use the word repurposed, it is for Active Travel, safer routes to school,” the Acting Director remarked. Cheaper parking on the edge of town could be explored to entice people away from the centre, he suggested, “it is a work in progress, we’d ask for patience and assistance in finding what the optimum solution is”:.
Mayor of the Ennis MD, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) sided with both Cllr Howard and Lenihan. “It is harmful these ongoing debates about the lack of parking, I’ve shared my own personal experience and that is that I never have a problem parking in Ennis, we know private car parks are lying idle for a very high percentage of time, I consider this debate harmful to Ennis, if you go on in public sessions where media are listening, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy in Ennis, if people think there isn’t parking then there will be because people will stop coming”. She said, “When I go to Galway city, I park, I don’t know necessarily who owns the particular car parking, I have to speak strongly on this, notwithstanding my own party colleague putting down this motion but strenuously I disagree”.
Adding to the Fianna Fáil division on the topic, Cllr Daly said he “totally disagreed” with the Mayor. “Go down to Market, Abbey St and Parnell St you won’t get a parking spot, I agree with Cllr Murphy, a multi-storey might be the option, business people have no option but to park in the car park but the customer needs to be the bread and butter”.
An “excellent rate” was previously negotiated by Ennis Chamber of Commerce for a dedicated parking space “but it was not taken up by the staff,” Cllr Howard replied. “a parking permit for a business works out at €1 per day which they can offset at their accounts, it was tried in the past”. She like Lenihan and Colleran Molloy has not had any issues sourcing a parking spot, “I’ve never had to look for a parking spot, I’ve went into Abbey Street car park and got parking no bother, that is my lived experience”. She added, “the narrative on no spaces is bunkum”.
“Ye have gone off track, Tom never said there was no parking, it is ye did that,” Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) flagged. “Seán said if the market want it then they will build it but with Ennis 2040 the plan was to build it and then the market will look for it, it you can’t go throwing back the opposite argument months later,” he said. “He questioned and asked for data on what is available, there seems to be a built-up pushback where other arguments come out in the surface,” Cllr Guilfoyle observed. “To push back with arguments made against ye on Ennis 2040 shows ye are losing the argument”.
On the local authority since December 2022, Cllr O’Callaghan said “I’ve never been so shocked in my life” with the stance taken by his colleagues. “We spend money on reports and we ignore them. I simply ask to conduct which would be logical request is to conduct a parking audit and present the numbers. There is nothing wrong with sitting around and having an open discussion”. Money was “well spent” on the 2008 report, he believed. “Where are the audited reports up to date and can we look at them logically. The personalising I don’t like, I look at numbers and facts at all time”.
