Gardaí in Swords will be asked to do something about the number of cars parked on the footpath outside their station after the matter was raised by local councillors.
Councillor Joe Newman said he received a complaint from a constituent who said his visually impaired daughter struggles to pass Garda station because of cars parked on the footpath there. “It’s right beside the police station and nothing’s done about it,” he said.
He had asked about the possibility of placing bollards outside the station to stop the practice but a council engineer said that was not feasible. However, council management said it would write to the Garda station and ask them to do something about the cars.
Councillor Eugene Coppinger said he supported the idea of writing to the gardaí to express concern about the parking situation. “I’m not suggesting for a minute that it’s gardaí that are parking there but that is what happens outside other Garda stations, they park outside.
“There are cars there partly on the footpath, fully on the footpath and they are a huge obstruction to the visually impaired and parents with buggies. If we’re not in a position to put down plastic bollards then we should at least write a strong letter to the Garda station expressing our disgust at the situation there.”
In a report, Fingal management said “it is an offence under the roads act to park a vehicle on a public footpath and contact will be made with the local Garda Station for assistance with the keeping of the footpath clear of parked vehicles.”
Senior executive officer Shay Barker said the problem was outside the Garda station “and I would have expected that they might have started to enforce it so we will definitely be writing to the inspector up there with a view to having that enforced.”
