Half of spaces in Galway public carpark kept free for Council staff

 More than half of the spaces available at Galway Greyhound Track carpark, owned by the local authority, are reserved for free use by staff of Galway City Council.

 The College Road car park is the worst performing of all five City Council car parks in terms of the level of revenue it generates – more than half of its users don’t pay anything.

New figures released by the local authority reveal that some €1.6 million was earned by Galway City Council through revenue earned from charging motorists to park in the city in the past seven months.

About half of the revenue – €877,000 – was generated through the estimated 2,000 on-street car parking spaces dotted throughout the city.

The remainder of the revenue was earned from off-street car parks including all-day car parks at Dyke Road, Galway Cathedral, and Galway Greyhound Track, where the rate is €4, and hourly-rate car parks at Mill Street and Bowling Green.

The statistics, which were released to Councillor Niall McNelis, show that the Dyke Road car park is by far the City Council’s biggest earner.

It earned a little over €419,000 in the seven months from January to August of this year. There are 510 car parking spaces at Dyke Road.

By contrast, the Galway Greyhound Track car park, which has a total capacity of 112, earned just €8,890 in the same seven months period. That is by far the lowest earner of all Council-owned car parks.

Part of the reason for the poor revenues from the College Road facility is that 62 spaces are reserved for free parking for Galway City Council employees. Effectively the revenue forgone by the Council, to provide free parking for its staff, runs to tens of thousands of euro.

This is in addition to the some 120 spaces available at City Hall for staff and visitors to the Council, also free.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel