A call to provide one hour of free parking in the county’s towns is to be examined by the Council’s infrastructure committee.

This follows a motion proposed by Cllr Declan Geraghty (Ind Irl) who suggested that businesses in Ballinasloe were suffering because of parking fees in the town.

He suggested that short-stay parking bays should be provided, to facilitate those “nipping in for 10 or 15 minutes”.

“I was talking to a business person and he said people are afraid that if they pull up and park, they’ll get a fine.

“He said it is affecting his business,” said Cllr Geraghty.

“Retail businesses are under pressure, for a number of reasons, and this would be a good way to help in Ballinasloe,” he continued.

Cllr Dermot Connolly (SF) called for the system in Westport to be replicated, where there are sections providing one hour of free parking.

“We have had the town enhancement scheme [in Ballinasloe] and it has helped, but a lot of small retail businesses are suffering and they are up against big organisations with free parking outside the town centre,” said Cllr Dermot Connolly.

Cllr Moegie Maher (FG) said the proposal had been discussed by the Council’s Corporate Policy Group and if it was to proceed, all towns in the county would have to benefit.

“It should be across the county if we are going to do it,” he said.

However, he said parking charges in County Galway were cheap.

Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) said she had brought forward a similar motion previously, proposing a free two hours of parking.

“At the time, it was referred to the Roads Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) and there, it died a death,” she said.

Cllr Michael Connolly (FF) said people looked across the border to Roscommon where there were no charges, while Cllr Siobhán McHugh Ryan (FG) said people needed to be encouraged to shop locally – and this was a way of doing that.

Cllr Michael Regan (FF) said councillors should be careful what they wish for, though.

“As a business person, it’s all about turnover. If you have someone holding up a space, you are not getting the volume of people that you should be getting,” he said.

Chief Executive Liam Conneally said parking fees provided around €300,000 annually to the Council budget and a change such as this would have to be considered in the context of the budget.

“Parking charges in County Galway are extremely good value. If anything, I had my eye on increasing them rather than decreasing them. The real estate that they are on is of high value,” he said.

“We need to make sure there is a turnover, too, to benefit businesses. I’ve seen this in other areas having a negative impact because people tend to leave their cars longer than they would if they were paying for them,” continued Mr Conneally.

Councillors agreed to refer the proposal to the Infrastructure SPC for further discussion.

Pictured: Cllr Declan Geraghty…motion.