This article is from page 4 of the 2007-11-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CALLS were made last night for more parking spaces for disabled drivers, wider parking berths and bigger fines for able-bodied people who abuse the spaces.
Clir Pascal Fitzgerald (Lab), who asked for a full report on whether additional spaces will be made avail- able, said Clare was “the only county in which there are no markings in bays which allow space for people in wheelchairs to get out of their cars.
“Get a wheelchair and see if you
can get in and out of your car in the space available – you won’t.
“People park right up against cars parked in disabled spaces. We need bigger bays, more spaces and better markings,” he said.
Clir Martin Conway(FG) said he supported Cllr Fitzgerald. Those Spaces which were painted in light blue in Clare “fare easily distinguish- able. They should all be painted in that colour in future and we need to look at increasing fines for people who abuse those spaces”’.
Cllr Joe Arkins(FG) said that he
agreed that the spaces should be painted an obvious colour, but added that he was concerned that there were no penalities for people who abused disabled spaces in hotels and other private locations.
Council Director of Service, Tom Carey, told the meeting that the lo- cal authority was constantly revising the number of spaces which it could make available for parking for driv- ers and passengers with a disability.
The council has completed a coun- ty-wide audit on the whole area of the needs of people with disabilities and
accessibility of council properties and lands. He added that he would expect some funding to be made available of foot of the findings.
“We want to assure the members that everything that can be done will be done to ensure that people with disability can have access,” he said.
In a relation motion, Cllr Pat Mc- Mahon (FF) called on the authority that issues disabled parking permits to ensure “they are issued to people who have a genuine need for same.
“There are able-bodied people us- ing these permits,” he said.