Pairc Tailteann parking plan a ‘complete waste of money’

When free parking was provided at Pairc Tailteann in Navan, an average of six cars per day were using it, a meeting of Navan Municipal Council heard last week.

Cllr Emer Tóibín had proposed the council reopen the parking facilities at Páirc Tailteann on a trial basis for a period of six months, but was told the council had no plans to do so, because of the lack of users.

Pointing out that 94 parking spaces had been removed in Navan since 2020, Cllr Tóibín proposed reopening parking in Pairc Tailteann to increase parking capacity within the town and that the Council launch a town-wide public information campaign to inform visitors, shoppers, and residents of the availability of additional parking.

“I submitted a question to the council some months back about how many council parking spaces had been removed from the town since 2020 - 94 in total.

“Church Hill has seen the removal of seven spaces in recent months. I am getting calls every week from businesses, customers, visitors, people living outside the town who are finding Navan much more difficult to navigate as a result of parking becoming such an issue - it is forcing many people to go elsewhere and we are all losing out as a result.”

She said Navan suffers from massive traffic congestion and the council are seeking to reduce car usage and traffic as a consequence.

“However, there needs to be a better balance. Some of these policies are making life harder for the very people who rely on local services most. I took a call last week from a man who went in to collect his prescription on Church Hill. Since the parking has been removed outside the pharmacy, he had to walk much further than he was comfortable with.

“He told me about an elderly man he met there, who also needed to go to the pharmacy, but ended up getting a parking ticket in the space that used to be right beside the door. When access to town centres becomes more difficult, it has a real knock-on effect on footfall, commercial viability and social activity. We must ensure that efforts to reduce car use do not come at the cost of accessibility and economic vitality. Local businesses rely on ease of access for their customers,” she said.

Cllr Tóibín was told parking facilities were previously provided at Páirc Tailteann, but there were as few as six cars per day using the facility. A town-wide public information campaign to inform visitors, shoppers, and residents of the availability of additional parking was undertaken, yet usage remained low.

The Mayor, Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said opening Pairc Tailteann for parking had been a complete waste of money. “People weren’t parking there. Theoretically it is a great solution, but it just doesn't work.”

Director of Services, Martin Murray said that there had been a huge campaign to publicise the availability of Pairc Tailteann for parking and a free shuttle bus into the town centre was provided while the work was taking place on the Fair Green, but people did not use it.

He pointed out that 135 additional parking spaces had been created at Moathill and other locations in the town.

It was also noted that multi storey parking is underutilised, while drivers queue for cheaper spaces to become available on Kennedy Plaza. A rebalancing of the public parking costs in line with inflation may go some way towards encouraging people to use all the parking options that are available in the town, councillors were told.