Almost 10,000 parking fines in Dundalk left unpaid

A total of 9,865 parking fines issued in Dundalk over the past five years remain unpaid, the Dundalk Democrat can reveal.

Over €1.37 million worth of parking fines have been paid out to Louth County Council in the last five years, with just under 45% of valid tickets issued in Dundalk remaining unpaid.

In total, the local authority collected €1.370,857 in parking fines between 2018 and 2022, according to figures provided to the Democrat under Freedom of Information.

Overall, there were 27,568 fines issued by Louth County Council in Dundalk in the past five years.

A further 5,923 were cancelled, appealed or written off and 11,780 were paid.

The Covid years of 2020 and 2021 saw a sharp decrease in the number of fines issued compared with other years, however last year saw 5484 fines issued which was over double the figure for 2021.

In 2018, 7,832 fines were issued in Dundalk ; 7,451 in 2019 and 4,081 in 2020.

Dundalk councillors voted last December to increase the hourly rate for pay parking in Dundalk to €1.30, a move which came into effect on 7th January this year.

Louth County Council received the most money from fines in 2018, with €445,811 worth of fines being paid across both Dundalk and Drogheda.

Last year, 2022, saw €245,050 collected from fines.

2019 saw €328,826 collected, €199,170 was collected in 2020 and €152,000 was collected in 2021..

When it comes to Drogheda, figures show that a total of 30,641 tickets were issued from 2018 to 2022.

Overall 17,191 of these were paid, 8,552 were unpaid while 4,898 were cancelled, appealed or written off. 

Fines issued in Drogheda have also seen an overall decrease, with 10,194 issued in 2018 and just 4,477 issued last year.

Taken as a whole 58,209 parking fines were issued in the county from the years 2018-2022, with 10,821 cancelled, appealed or written off, 28,971 paid and 18,417 left unpaid.

These figures are a sum total of three types of parking fines, including fines for not displaying tickets and parking in a disabled parking spot. Fixed charge fines for parking offences can range from €40 to €150.

From February last year Louth County Council increased the fine for parking on pavements from €40 to €80 in line with new government legislation.