Vol. 417 No. 9
136 Mr. Byrne asked the Minister for Justice whether the parking of cars on footpaths is illegal; and if so, if he will give details of the legislation under which it is illegal; and if he will outline the steps he intends taking to prevent this widespread practice.
Under the Road Traffic General By-laws, 1964, it is an offence for a vehicle to be parked in such a way as to interfere with the free movement of pedestrians along a footway, be wholly or partly on the footway or project over the footway. Such offences are dealt with in the same manner as other breaches of the parking regulations.
In recent years, traffic law enforcement has been accorded a very high priority. For instance, in so far as the Dublin Metropolitan Area is concerned, an additional 75 traffic wardens have been recruited since 1990 and there is provision to recruit a further 50 during 1992. In 1991, 353,447 on-the-spot parking fines were issued in the Dublin Metropolitan Area.
The Garda authorities have also been increasingly active in towing away illegally parked cars. In 1991, 7,083 illegally parked cars were towed away by the gardaí in the Dublin Metropolitan Area. This compares with 6,187 in 1990 and 2,507 in 1989.
