Sir, – Lack of enforcement of fines for misuse of designated disabled parking spaces is leading to widespread inappropriate parking by trade vehicles, taxis, buses and regular motorists.
Often the worst cases are experienced in shopping centres and other private car parks, notably those of hospitals, where there is little obvious supervision of implementing any sanctions.
Disabled users of motor vehicles are already severely challenged and it is very dispiriting to witness the endemic abuse of disabled parking spaces by uncaring non-disabled drivers occupying the limited number of designated spaces.
The disrespect for the system in Ireland requires a major rethink on sanctions and enforcement.
With car prices surging, where can budget-conscious drivers turn? The answer may surprise you
The Music Quiz: Which Britpopper on Top of the Pops opened his jacket to reveal a taped sign reading ‘I hate Wet Wet Wet’?
Two tiny captives, symbols of hostage crisis, to come home dead, Hamas says
‘They’re supposed to represent us, not sue us’: Crafts council threatens members after critical feedback
In Australia, for example, very hefty fines, together with penalty points, are levied for breaching disabled parking regulations. In Ireland, in the unlikely event of being fined, the amount is a mere €150.
Regulations also need to be introduced to ensure compliance in private car parks, shopping centres and other publicly used areas normally outside the purview of traffic wardens and the the Garda Síochána.
Recently in South Dublin, where there are seven disabled spaces on or near a main street, all were occupied by delivery vans, a taxi and two SUVs in which people were sitting chatting on their phones, all of whom, bar one, reacted very aggressively to being challenged.
This pretty much demonstrates the contempt and disrespect regularly experienced by disabled parking permit holders.
It’s time for meaningful reform. – Yours, etc,
ROGER BANNON,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Integrated ticketing
A chara, – On reading about combined rail and bus tickets to Cork Airport, I found myself wondering why people travelling on Bus Éireann Expressway services cannot avail of a similar facility (“Combined tickets for Cork Airport”, Business, February 12th).
In 1987, as part of the management team at Bus Éireann, I was closely involved in devising a system of integrated through-ticketing from the Expressway network to the rural and commuter routes and vice versa. Despite the limitations of a manually operated ticket issuing system, by then almost obsolete, it was successfully implemented for many years throughout the entire Bus Éireann network of Expressway, rural and commuter routes.
This useful facility meant that, for example, a person travelling on the Dublin/Cork Expressway route could buy one ticket at an inclusive fare to any location served by the rural and commuter routes radiating from Cork, including Cork Airport. At some point after rural and commuter routes came under public service obligation contracts awarded by the National Transport Authority (NTA), this facility was withdrawn.
The NTA, in its numerous press releases about BusConnects, LocaLink, Connecting Ireland, etc, places a lot of emphasis on “interchange”, “integration” and “connectivity”. Restoration of a pioneering example of such integration could perhaps be a step in translating these aspirations into reality. – Is mise,
CYRIL McINTYRE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
Tackling the housing crisis
Sir, – Research carried out on behalf of the Catholic Church’s marriage preparation service Accord has found that almost 70 per cent of 25 to 34 year olds stated that the cost of owning a home is causing delays in getting married or having children (“Most adults delaying marriage and kids due to housing crisis, survey by Catholic agency finds”, News, February 12th). The research also found that half of the couples in this survey who were planning to get married would have done so earlier if it were not for the housing situation. The lack of housing impacts couples in their day-to-day lives, especially when it comes to renting.
One worries that the birth rate will be seriously affected, which in turn will have knock-on consequences in future years for government policy, taxation and retirement planning. One must remember that if there are fewer children in the next few years, there will be fewer people in the labour force, and therefore we will have fewer people paying taxes to pay our pensions. All this certainly will have an a knock-on effect. Housing has to be a top priority for this new administration. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’BRIEN,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.
Sir, – Having seen off the troika, the then-minister for finance Michael Noonan announced in October 2013 that the State had been given back its purse. At that time the average house price was €171,000 and there were less than 4,000 persons homeless.
Today the Government expects to run a budget surplus of some €10 billion. The average house price is now €429,000, with the average Dublin house price exceeding €600,000, and there are over 15,000 persons homeless.
The political class that have overseen this debacle has no vision, no solution and no shame. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WALSH,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.
Motionless mingling
Sir, – Like Róisín Ingle, once upon a time, I embraced the stand-up mingle, drifting from group to group like a social butterfly with sore feet (“The joy of sit-down mingling at an old-fashioned hooley”, People, February 12th). But at my age, I no longer mingle like this. I like the people I’m talking to. Life’s too short, and my patience too thin, to waste time on Maga apologists, self-promoters, or anyone who thinks a party is the place to explain cryptocurrency.
These days, wisdom means choosing comfort over circulation. From my carefully selected perch, I’ve noticed something interesting: the best conversations happen when both parties are sitting down, and neither is trying to spot someone more interesting across the room. – Yours, etc,
ENDA CULLEN,
Armagh.
M50 motorway needs attention
Sir, – The M50 motorway is frequently cited as the busiest and most important road on the island of Ireland, serving Dublin Airport and the tunnel to Dublin port. However, this vital piece of infrastructure is paralysed several times a week as the dreaded sign appears on noticeboards “incident ahead”. Impacts from careless or dangerous driving is causing this gridlock.
It is time to take action to rectify this unsatisfactory situation which is causing untold personal stress and serious economic damage, apart for personal injuries.
Consideration needs to given to doubling financial fines and penalty points for traffic violations on the M50. Toronto authorities introduced similar measures on that city’s orbital motorway, the 401, to good effect.
Also it is time to complete the port tunnel to give it a Southern exit to the N11 in order to give an alternative route to the M50.
The current paralysis of the M50 cannot be allowed to continue. It is costing us too much. – Yours, etc,
RAY BASSETT,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
A return to civility
Sir, – After shopping in Lucan, I tried to make my way from the car park to home and was met with such uncontrolled anger from many people leaving the car park. Some were beeping their car horns, others were getting angry with drivers, and generally all I could see was bad manners everywhere. I made my way home but had to get some bits and pieces in my own village in Clondalkin and again I met this behaviour in a well-known car park. I have noticed that this behaviour has become worse since Covid while driving. All I wanted to do was to get into my own house and close the door on all of this unpleasantness. Why is this happening? Have we lost our way in being humble, patient and respectful? – Yours, etc,
PAUL DORAN,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
Solar panels and batteries
Sir, – Some recent letter writers here have suggested the use of solar panels as a source of power during future outages due to storms. For those of us who effectively use a domestic solar system this makes so much sense.
However, I believe a major barrier to the implementation of domestic solar power as a solution is the apparent lack of understanding at an official level of how such a system can best be used. That a former Green minister should suggest EVs as a solution ahead of domestic solar (Opinion & Analysis, February 11th), alongside the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s decision in 2022 to withdraw the grant for a solar system battery, clearly indicates a lack of understanding of how a combination of solar generation and load shifting can be used effectively.
Since installing a domestic solar system three years ago, I have been able to continue life virtually as normal during the few times the mains electricity went down, while also saving more than €2,000 a year on the electricity bill.
The only reason I have been able to do this is because I installed both solar panels and a 10kw battery. This allows the storage of excess electricity generated during the day and the storage of cheaper electricity purchased during the previous night to be used at peak times.
Each night the system battery is fully charged from the grid between 2am and 4am. On most days, even during the winter, the solar panels provide much of the power needed during daylight hours and keep the battery topped up. The battery, not the grid, then supplies most of the electricity used during the evening and is available to provide power should the mains fail.
During recent power outages, the battery included in the system has allowed me to continue working from home with lights, central heating, broadband, etc, as normal throughout. Luckily none of the outages have lasted more than 24 hours, but should this happen I believe careful management of the solar system to provide the basics should allow a fair degree of normality.
Substantial savings can also be achieved. During the year 2023 the solar panels generated over 50 per cent of the electricity used, while only 9 per cent of the total electricity consumed was purchased at the most expensive “day rate”. Most of the rest was purchased at the far cheaper rate available between 2am and 4am (costing about a quarter of the daytime price.) This included charging a plug-in hybrid car.
While there is much talk of long-term (and very expensive) solutions to the problems of power outages in rural areas, domestic solar is a solution that could be provided to thousands of vulnerable homes before next winter’s storms. What I believe is needed is a rethink by the Government and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the provision of grants and/or interest-free loans to households to encourage the installation of a solar system, including an appropriately-sized battery, of course. If managed properly, any loan repayments should be offset by savings on each electricity bill.
An added benefit for Eirgrid of this solution would be to help balance supply at peak times. Imagine the savings if many thousands of homes throughout the country shifted their consumption of electricity from the peak 4pm to 7pm slot to overnight. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O’BRIEN,
Delgany,
Co Wicklow.
Ageing – know the signs
Sir, – A sign of getting old is knowing the names of plants and flowers. If you know the Latin name you are truly ancient. – Yours, etc,
GERARD REYNOLDS,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – “I enjoyed that film”, followed by “It hasn’t started.” – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Dublin 24.
Rugby and substitutions
Sir, – I read with interest Matt Williams’s thoroughly cogent arguments regarding the necessity for the amendment of rugby union’s current substitution laws (“Rugby’s embrace of brute physicality over skill will lead to life-changing injuries”, Sport, Opinion, February 14th).
I would suggest that his proposals do not in fact go far enough.
Originally, rugby did not allow any substitutions. This policy was amended in 1968 to allow substitutions only in the case of injury and this was extended to three tactical substitutions in 1996.
In terms of player safety we now have the ludicrous position where more than half the team can be replaced tactically during the game. This facilitates huge players who are unfit for an 80-minute game starting games only to be replaced when they tire by more huge men also unfit for an 80-minute game. The concomitant risks to the health and safety of other players are obvious, what is perhaps less obvious is that the replacement of tiring players hugely decreases the opportunities and space for skilful back play and so reduces the game as a spectacle.
A modest proposal would be for rugby to adopt a policy of allowing substitutions only in the case of injury (to be adjudicated upon by an independent doctor).
This would have the immediate effect of reducing the size of player as only those fit enough would be chosen for play in the first place.
In turn this would have a resulting benefit in terms of health and safety for all concerned (including the larger forwards whose fitness levels would have to improve) while also ensuring that teams playing a fast and expansive game would benefit the most thus improving the game as a spectacle.
Incidentally the reason that rugby moved from a policy of injury only to tactical substitutions was a perception that players were encouraged to feign injury to facilitate a substitution.
This problem would be easily obviated by a strict sanction of three games against any player so substituted. – Yours, etc,
NORMAN FITZGERALD,
Galway.
