Charges on car owners in the capital have not been increased for more than a decade

Dublin City Council has signalled its intention to raise the price of on-street parking permits for residents of the city in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Speaking at the council’s mobility committee meeting on Wednesday, the authority’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, said the current cost had not been adjusted since 2013.

“If we apply a CPI to [the cost] from 2013 to 2026, I think that would be fair,” he told councillors.

The CPI has risen just over 30pc since the beginning of 2013, according to the Central Statistics Office, meaning that the current €50 annual charge could be raised to €65.

Last year, the council floated the possibility of increasing the cost to €225 a year, but the proposal faced fierce pushback from councillors at the time for more than quadrupling the cost to car owners.

Mr O’Brien conceded that the previous proposal was “not that well received” by elected members, but felt “the principle of increasing the permits had been accepted but potentially not the amount”.

Kenneth Murphy, a parking enforcement officer with the council, told the chamber that it had been “a long time” since 2013, and an increase to the cost was appropriate.

“If you look at the price of the private car parks, it doesn’t add up. So that’s something that we would look to introduce,” he said.

Jason Cullen of the Dublin Commuter Coalition said that cost could be “considered as a potential way to reduce demand for parking” and called the current parking regime for residents “outrageously cheap”.

Zoe Baker, a representative of Blend Residents’ Association in the north inner city, said she would like to see homeowners in the city incentivised to move to a more sustainable alternative than a car parking space.

“Could we look at a system where we incentivise residents in houses to forego parking permits, perhaps by offering them free bike bunkers, freeing up parking spaces for others,” she said.

Chair of the committee, Green Party councillor Janet Horner, said Ms Baker’s idea was “a very good one”, adding that there was currently “no reward” for people in the city who choose to make the spaces outside their home available to others.

Mr O’Brien said he would return with concrete proposals to the next committee meeting, currently scheduled for November.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme