PARKING RESPECT: Garda Emma Harte, Mary O'Shea, Garda Brendan O'Donovan (Community Policing), Superintendent Flor Murphy, Aileen O'Sullivan, Mike Scannell, Garda Shane McCarthy participating 'Operation Enable'.

EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

Inconsiderate motorists who insist on parking in areas dedicated for other uses have come under fire from elected members of Killarney Municipal District.

Councillors raised concerns at last week's special meeting of Killarney Municipal District.

They were concerned about drivers using disabled bays without a blue badge and about drivers using loading bays to park private cars forcing delivery drivers to seek alternative parking adding to the congestion on the town centre.

Cllr Marie Moloney was particularly concerned about the misuse of blue parking zones near the Killarney Medical Centre.

Meanwhile Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan raised concerns over drivers partially parking on footpaths, in particular at school time, on New Road.

He called for local traffic wardens to be more visible at this time as bad parking was causing problems for people with disabilities or wheelchair users.

The calls came the same week that Killarney Gardai clamped down on the illegal use of parking spaces in the town.

“We also targeted the illegal use of disabled parking permits within Killarney town,” Garda Brendan O’Donovan told the Killarney Advertiser. “This operation was supported by the Killarney Access Group and also run in conjunction with ‘Make Way Day’ which also took place last Friday. ‘Make Way Day’ is a national public awareness campaign to highlight the issues people with disabilities face getting around their local communities. Killarney Gardaí would like to thank all who helped support this operation, including Mary O'Shea (Killarney Access Group) and all at the Cheshire Home Killarney.”