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Call for free Christmas parking
02.12.09
by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
BUNCRANA Town Councillor Michael Grant wants free
parking to be introduced in the town in the two
weeks before Christmas. Cllr Grant has tabled a
motion for consideration at the December Town
Council meeting calling for a parking charge holiday
in Buncrana at certain times of the day.
“I am calling on the Council to waive parking
charges from 12pm on weekdays in Buncrana in the two
weeks before Christmas, as well as provide free
parking all weekend. That would give businesses a
boost at this crucial time of year and ensure the
Council are still getting some revenue,” he said.
The idea of a parking charge holiday for Buncrana in
the run up to Christmas has received a warm welcome
from one main street business man.
Paul Brogan’s Food For Thought shop has been a
fixture on Buncrana Main Street since 1997. He would
like to see free parking begin with the switching on
of the towns Christmas lights this Sunday. |
“I think it could
definitely help trade, provided it was restricted to
between the hours of 11am and 4pm, otherwise people
who work in the town would take up all the spaces
and we’d have the same problem we had [before
parking charges].
“Personally speaking, car parking charges have been
a disaster for my business. |
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People used to browse
in my shop, now they just run in and out because
they don’t want to pay the charge. There is no time
to try and sell them anything extra. Car parking
charges were introduced to alleviate the traffic
problem and they succeeded – nobody comes to
Buncrana anymore.”
Ballyshannon-based councillor Barry O’Neill was set
to table a motion at yesterday’s County Council
meeting in Lifford calling on the local authority to
suspend on and off street car parking charges
between the 4th and 25th of December in Killybegs,
Donegal Town and Ballyshannon.
However, speaking to the Inishowen Independent, the
Fine Gael representative said perhaps the Town and
County Councils’ could suspend parking charges
across Donegal.
“Business people from Carndonagh to Bundoran are
crying out for the local authorities to do something
to alleviate their suffering because of the economy
and the effects of cross border shopping at this
crucial time of the year.”
Cllr O’Neill believes that a parking charge holiday
will encourage Donegal people to stay on this side
of the border to do their Christmas shopping. The
Mayor of Cavan Town, Andrew Boylan, recently
announced that parking charges will not apply in
surface car parks in Cavan town in the pre-Christmas
period. Similar measures have been introduced in
parts of Dublin.
Cllr O’Neill now believes it’s time for Donegal to
follow suit. “It’s in the hands of the County
Manager. The county might lose €50,000 in parking
receipts, but if local businesses have as bad a
Christmas as many are fearing, then the Council will
lose a lot more than that in the New Year with rate
payers going out of business. We need to look at the
big picture.” |
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