?Full-scale turf war? over Enfield car-parking

FINE Gael Meath County Councillor William Carey had called on Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to ask Irish Rail to tidy up the area around Enfield Railway Station to provide adequate park and ride facilities for commuters.

Colr Carey's comments come following the raising of the Enfield car parking problems at the local area county council meeting.

He said: “Commuters are involved in a 'dog eat dog' situation, while traders and Meath County Council are engaged in a full-scale turf war over car parking in Enfield. A number of solutions are required but Irish Rail has the capacity to provide extra spaces in the short term, yet refuses to co-operate with Meath County Council's proposals. Minister Dempsey has the power to intervene but shows little interest in the issue.”

Colr Carey went on to say that Meath County Council had conducted negotiations with Irish Rail and offered to fund a low-cost tidying up of the railway station, which would create several new car parking spaces, but claimed that Irish Rail had refused this offer as it had a long term high-cost solution in the pipeline.

“I'm glad that Irish Rail has a long-term plan but we need car parking spaces now and Meath County Council is offering to fund them. Irish Rail should allow the council to do the job and provide short-term relief. Their refusal to do so is bureaucratic obstructionism,” said Colr Carey.

He went on: “Minister Dempsey is in charge of Irish Rail and should knock heads together. He was quick to drop leaflets in Enfield on the night before the election giving the impression he was solving our car parking problem. All that has happened since then is that the closed ESB office, where people have been parking, was put up for sale within weeks of the election.”

He said commuters and traders want a solution now. A promise of 2009 is no good to them. Short-term solutions are available if everyone, from the minister to officials, put their minds to it, said Colr Carey.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail councillor Jimmy Fegan is reiterating his invitation following a proposal he made at the last area meeting that landowners in the Enfield area should consider providing car parking in the village area until such time as Irish Rail plans to increase car parking in 2009 take shape to provide the necessary parking.

“Any one of the area

councillors would be glad

to put landowners in touch with the relevant officials

in Meath County Council

to investigate any proposal. The financial inducement for any landowner would be a commitment from Meath County Council to introduce any necessary by-laws to enable paid parking to be introduced on their land,” he said.