Kildare County Council won't commit to rejecting clamping company

Kildare County Council has declined to commit to not renewing its contract with a car clamping company.

Five councillors - Evie Sammon, Kevin Duffy, William Durkan, Brendan Wyse and Ivan Keatley - said  the company (Apcoa) that oversees the parking rules in towns across County Kildare - should not have its contract reinstalled.

They asked  KCC to consider using community wardens it employs instead.

They said that “given the imminent cessation of APCOA's contract”, KCC should move “to a model of community wardens, where wardens would have broad enforcement powers.”

They said these powers would apply to parking enforcement, litter fines and enforcement of responsible dog ownership.

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This, they add, would be similar to what happens within Cork City Council and Dublin City Council.

Apcoa does not clamp cars on behalf of KCC but it also operates in private car parks where vehicles are clamped and Cllr Evie Sammon said councilors receive complaints about their cars getting clamped because “the lines are blurred” and some people think KCC is responsible.

She said the confusion arises because Apcoa has contracts with others apart from KCC. She added any new contract should be with a company that does not clamp.

Cllr Chris Pender said 72% of the income generated from pay parking “is spent on running the system” and  the costs of operating it have risen by 42%.

He also said the community wardens could also be deployed to cover other functions such as dog fouling and littering.

Cllr Bill Clear claimed that Apcoa are “double jobbing” by having their staff work in private car parks as well as managing KCC spaces. He said an Apcoa representative has gone into a local car park wearing clothing marked "Kildare County Council” - but this was disputed by KCC official Mark McLoughlin.

Mr McLoughlin said the pool of contractors available is “quite limited” and he said Apcoawear operates a number of different divisions. He said Apcoa staff do not wear KCC clothing. He acce;pted that operating costs have increased “but charges have not” and “we’ll have to have a look at that.”

KCC chief executive Sonya Kavanagh said the council has to observe competition guidelines “so we may not be able to exclude a company.”

Athy, Celbridge, Kildare, Leixlip, Maynooth, Naas and Newbridge are KCC pay parking towns regulated by Apcoa.

Three other  towns - Clane, Kilcock and Sallins -  are regulated by KCC wardens who also regulate the rest of the county outside of the pay parking bye-law towns.

According to KCC the enforcement of parking regulations requires a consistent full-time on-street presence.

“It was previously established that the model of community wardens carrying out enforcement did not work as a combination of work  like litter fines, dog fouling and other duties invariably leaves a substantial gap in the visible on-street presence that is necessary to ensure compliance with a managed parking service”

Litter wardens are fully engaged in litter management enforcement.

KCC also said the  scale of the parking operation in County Kildare is not like it is in  Dublin and Cork but “at a national level, Kildare is considered a best practice model.”

The transfer from a private contractor to a community warden-based system would have considerable implications around cash collection services, payment services management and investment in hardware and software systems, added KCC.

Community wardens would also necessitate an increase in administrative staff “to manage the back-off process, currently carried out by our service provider.”

Nevertheless talks are taking place between KCC and the government about a framework for parking services and this will be followed by a procurement process ensuring the best value for money for the council. 

KCC believes this is the  most economically efficient means of delivering the service and managing parking services.

 Profits from pay parking are used by KCC to improve  roads, footpaths, public lighting and road safety measures. The estimate for these improvements in 2026 is €1.1m.