This article is from page 14 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
PARKING, or the lack of, is never far from the debate when the health of businesses in Ennis is being discussed. And last Tuesday’s meeting to discuss proposed changes to the Ennis and Environs Development was no exception.
The issue arose when former Mayor of Ennis, councillor Frankie Neylon (Ind), claimed he hadn’t been able to secure free parking for his ‘Super Tuesday’ initiative because the President of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, John Dillane was not in the country.
Super Tuesday took place in Ennis earlier this month. Cllr Neylon put forward the idea as a means of promoting local businesses and encouraging shoppers into the town.
Speaking in the Old Ground Hotel, Cllr Neylon claimed he had wanted parking charges to be suspended for the day. However, he said that when he raised the matter with officials at Ennis Town Council he was told a decision could not be taken because Mr Dillane was in China. This claim was immediately rejected by both Chamber Vice President Brian O’Neill and Chamber CEO Rita McInerney.
Speaking last Wednesday, Ms McInerney confirmed that while Mr Dillane had been away on holidays at the start of September, he returned to the town on September 3, three days before Super Tuesday.
She explained, “He [Mr Dillane] was never contacted about anything to do with free parking and neither was I.” Ms McInerney also confirmed that Mr Dillane had not been in China at the time. The discussion prompted further calls for changes to the system of parking charges in Ennis, which businesses say is essential to bringing more shoppers to the town centre.
Ms McInerney said the introduc- tion of free parking in Limerick city in the lead up to Christmas last year had been a “huge success”. She said councillors had already started calling on Limerick City Council to repeat the policy this year. Aoife Madden, Chairperson of Ennis Development Forum, claimed the high cost of parking is turning shoppers away from Ennis. Addressing local councillors, she said, “If ye can bring down the cost of parking it would bring the people back into town.”