Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 Dec 1997

Vol. 485 No. 2

Written Answers. - Parking Regulations.

Noel Ahern

Ceist:

265 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the inadequacy and over bureaucratic nature of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations, 1997 drawn up by his Department in relation to Article 38 of these regulations which forbids parking of heavy goods vehicles in residential areas; the current situation in relation to the level and extent of signage required in this regard; if he will change the regulations to that originally requested by Dublin Corporation where the problem most manifests itself to allow for a blanket ban on the parking of large vehicles in the city apart from areas designated for such purpose and indicated by signage. [22939/97]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

Article 38 of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations, 1997, empowers road authorities to prohibit the parking of large vehicles in specified areas, following an approach applied to selective parking restrictions and prohibitions generally. The article provides that where a no parking sign, accompanied by an information plate containing the symbol of a large vehicle and indicating a specified unladen weight, is in place, a vehicle which exceeds that unladen weight cannot be parked; this prohibition continues until a traffic sign is encountered indicating that the prohibition has ended.

It is not yet possible to assess the effectiveness of particular provisions of the new regulations, which came into operation on 1 October 1997.

My Department will however keep the operation of traffic regulations under ongoing review.