The fine for parking on a cycle lane has doubled, from €40 to €80, with the changes announced earlier this month coming into effect now.
The new sanctions relate to parking in cycle lanes and other forms of illegal parking, including on bus lanes and footpaths, among others.
Minister for Transport and the Environment Eamon Ryan signed the new penalties into force yesterday in a bid to hit drivers harder for parking on cycle lanes, saying the high fines would “encourage a more considerate use of road space”.
“Parking on footpaths puts vulnerable pedestrians, such as wheelchair users and those pushing buggies, at significant risk by forcing them off the footpath and into traffic,” he said.
“Parking in bus and cycle lanes endangers cyclists and undermines State investment in sustainable public transport infrastructure.”
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Back in 2018 the then minister for justice Charlie Flanagan and Mr Justice Peter Charleton of the High Court both made critical remarks about parking on cycle lanes. Specifically, in separate and unrelated comments, they both urged gardaí and Dublin City Council to sanction drivers continuing to break the law with illegal parking.
Mr Flanagan took to Twitter at one point to share photos of multiple vehicles park on a 24-hour lane in Upper Camden Street in central Dublin, saying the illegal parking was “just another normal day”
“And six vehicles parked in the South Great George’s Street bus lane, but sure who cares, eh? Cycle lanes must be kept clear for cyclists only,” Flanagan said in a Tweet. “Gardaí and local authorities must act to enforce the law.
Mr Charleton, in comments about what he saw as the absence of gardaí on the streets performing everyday policing tasks, some of which he outlined before turning his attention to illegal parking on cycle lanes.
“Cars block cycle lanes, intrude on them and endanger cyclists. That happens repeatedly within a minute’s walk of Garda stations,” he said.
While many new cycle lanes have been installed around Dublin since those remarks back in 2018, the practice of illegally parking on cycle lanes continue.
