Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Are you old enough to remember the Eyre Square revamp debacle?

The redevelopment of Galway’s most recognisable public space in the early 2000s dragged on for years longer than planned.

Mistreated contractors who pulled out of the project – and the scheme’s critics – were vindicated in a High Court decision years later.

The final bill footed by the public was circa €15m – more than twice the original estimates, with about 10% spent on legal fees.

It was a shambles. And that’s not even getting into the debate about whether the ‘Enhancement Scheme’ actually enhanced Eyre Square or made it worse.

Well, the ongoing parking-meter saga is fast becoming the City Council’s modern equivalent of the Eyre Square controversy.

The latest twist in this unfolding drama? Calls for parking meters to be scrapped altogether.

We kid you not. Senior management and some councillors are seriously suggesting that the Council should get rid of parking meters.

The result? Motorists would no longer be able to pay at meters with coins, legal tender; or ‘tapping’ by card, a function that was disabled in January, when the proverbial hit the fan.

There are 90 Pay and Display machines in Galway City, on-street and in Council carparks.

The rationale for getting rid of them seems to be that 69% of parking transactions were now processed on the Galway City parking app, launched with fanfare last Christmas.

But what they don’t understand – or conveniently ignore – is the reason the percentage of transactions processed by the app is so high is because two-thirds of parking meters are currently out-of-order. Cause and effect.

Sixty Pay and Display machines are not working – they cannot accept coins. One hundred per cent of meters cannot accept card payments, because tapping, the simplest method of paying for anything, is not allowed.

If 66% of motorists cannot pay by coin and 100% can’t pay by card, they will find an alternative – the app – or take their chances and not pay at all. Bean-counters reported a €65,000 shortfall in revenue so far. That’s thousands of motorists not paying for parking.

In 2018, the Council invested hundreds of thousands of euro on a tender won by UTS Technologies, to install, operate and manage Pay and Display meters that have a lifespan of up to 20 years.

That came after controversy over parking meters prior to 2018, highlighted in this newspaper and on RTÉ Prime Time Investigates.

In 2024, the Council retendered the contract. UTS participated in that competition and took a High Court challenge when it didn’t win. Those proceedings are ongoing.

Last December, the Council launched its parking app. In January, it phased out card tapping, and coin payments. Then it reintroduced coin payments. But because it ceased its maintenance and management contract with UTS, most machines are now not working.

Earlier this year, the Council confirmed 100 streetlights were broken during Storm Éowyn. Nobody suggested getting rid of them. Instead, sensibly, they vowed to find money to fix them.

As parking customers – shoppers in local businesses – continue to be driven away from Galway, due to the meter crux, nobody in City Hall has put forward a credible explanation as to why they opted to change the status quo.

Pictured: Cllr Terry O’Flaherty who has supported the retention of cash payments at Pay and Display parking meters.