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IPA 2008 Chairman's Lunch
The Minister's Speech
The Award Winners
2008 Photos - click here to view
Note: these images are numbered, not named. To obtain a high resolution version of an image, email the webmaster.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Noel Ahern, T.D. and Conor Faughan of AA Ireland were the guest speakers.
Once again the judges declared that they had a most difficult job given the overall high standard of the entries, and in recognition of this, one Highly Commended certificate was awarded in the Best Car Parking Facility category, and six in the Best Person in Parking category!
Detailed Results
Best Car Parking Facility
Winner: Victoria Street Car Park, Belfast - Q-Park
Highly Commended: Q-Park Clery's Car Park, Dublin
Best Person in Parking:
Winner: Dominic Bradley, Park Rite
Highly Commended:Ray Weldon, Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems;
Tom O'Connor, Adrian Jeiger and Libor Pospisil, Apcoa Parking
Aidan Doyle, Euro Car Parks,
Seamus Fahy, Q-Park
Best On Street Parking Service:
Winner: DSPS
Best Parking System or Service:
Winner: Dublin Airport
Best Parking Technology or Innovation:
Winner: E-Trip Ireland Ltd.
The Minister's Speech
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to begin by thanking your Chairman, Michael Geraghty, for inviting me to be with you today, and for giving me the opportunity and the pleasure of presenting this year’s Irish Parking Awards. I would like to congratulate all the winners, and to those who missed out this year, I wish you better luck next year!
These Awards represent not just individual or corporate achievement. They are an acknowledgement of the growth and importance of the parking industry in Ireland, particularly in the years since the IPA was founded in 1995.
I need hardly tell you that the years since 1995 have seen an enormous growth in car ownership in Ireland. The Irish economy grew at an unprecedented rate, and Ireland had for perhaps a decade the most consistently successful economy in Europe.
The organisations represented in the IPA have responded creatively to the challenges which this sudden growth in prosperity and in car-ownership presented, and it is only just that the IPA, a small organisation at its beginnings, is now a respected part of the European Parking Association.
Economically, we have been living in interesting times lately. After years of remarkable growth, we are facing more challenging and uncertain times.
While this is a global phenomenon, there is much we in Ireland can do and are doing to ensure stability and continued economic progress.
I am sure many of you have concerns about how the current economic climate will affect your business. I can assure you that the Government is determined to make the tough but necessary decisions to ensure our sustained economic development.
In particular, we are committed to continuing the major and ongoing investment which we are making in the nation’s transport network under my Department’s ten-year investment plan, Transport 21.
Investment in itself is not of course enough to address the transport challenges of the next decade and beyond.
For this reason, we are putting in place a package of policy and institutional measures to address these challenges and ensure that Ireland will have a transport system fit for the 21st Century, a system which is flexible and responsive, which underpins economic growth and which is environmentally sustainable.
Consider some of the challenges we face. By 2020, even taking into account the economic downturn, we are likely to have a larger population with a higher car ownership and higher emissions from the transport sector. Traffic congestion in urban areas is also likely to increase.
Furthermore, even with major planned investment in public transport infrastructure over the period, it is anticipated that dependency on imported fossil fuels for the transport sector will remain high.
It is not enough simply keep pace with these changes. What we need is a transport policy which is sustainable over the long term. An exemplary travel and transport system should contribute to economic prosperity and quality of life without causing significant impacts on the environment.
It is the balancing of these factors which will define a transport system which can be considered sustainable into the future.
Ireland’s current travel and transport trends are not sustainable. Our economic success has contributed to this trend. Not only do we have a growing population and increasing levels of car ownership: we have also seen an increase in travel distances. The 2006 Census shows that the average distance to work is now 15.8 kilometres compared to 7.7km in 1991.
Although congestion in urban areas is a key issue to be addressed in delivering sustainable transport we also have to consider the concerns and challenges relating to our rural areas where dependence on the car has been necessary in the absence of alternatives.
The Department of Transport has now completed a major public consultation on a vision for a sustainable transport system for Ireland.
Nearly 500 submissions were received from individuals and organisations. There was a variety of views on how we might tackle the unsustainable travel and transport trends in Ireland but unanimity on the point that something has to be done.
In response the Minister aims to bring a Sustainable Travel and Transport Action Plan to Government soon and hopes to publish it this year. He also aims to publish a National Cycle Policy. These will offer a radical new policy framework for transport in Ireland.
In conjunction with these developments, the Dublin Transportation Organisation has now begun work on a transport strategy for the Greater Dublin Area for the period 2010-2030.
This will be the successor to the DTO’s current strategy, A Platform for Change, which has provided the strategic blueprint for transport in the Greater Dublin Area since its publication in 2001. I understand that there will be extensive public consultation on the development of the strategy over the coming year, and I hope that you, either as an Association or as individual organisations, will take the opportunity to contribute you knowledge and perspective to this important process.
In the shorter term, the major works planned for Dublin under Transport 21, as well as other infrastructural works which are planned - including the renewal of water, gas and electricity services and the range of private developments planned for the city - will cause temporary disruption to traffic in the city centre.
As you may know, a multi-agency team including Dublin City Council and the Dublin Transportation Office is developing a traffic plan to address the impact of the construction of the various Transport 21 projects in the city, particularly in the city centre.
An Implementation Group chaired by the City Manager and including the chief executives of the transport agencies and representatives of business organisations is overseeing this work.
The City Council is working to ensure that the Traffic Management Plan will be in place and tested well before initial work on the various Transport 21 investment projects commences. In particular, the plan will ensure that access to city centre car parking facilities remains open.
I understand that in early in 2009 a multi-agency Joint Strategy, including a public information and awareness campaign, will be rolled out.
Earlier this year, we brought in legislation to add a significant institutional change to the way in which transport is planned and delivered in the Greater Dublin Area. This is the creation of the Dublin Transport Authority. The DTA will perform a range of functions, including undertaking strategic planning of transport, promoting the development of an integrated, accessible transport network, and regulating public transport fares.
You will be aware that the Minister for Finance, in his Budget speech, announced the introduction of a car parking levy.
This levy, which will be a flat rate of €200 per annum, will apply to employees in the major urban cities, where significant public transport is already in place, for whom parking is provided, free of charge or for a nominal charge, by their employer. It should be noted that existing legislation also allows an employer to incur the expense of providing an employee with a monthly or annual bus / rail pass, without the employee being liable for benefit-in-kind taxation.
While the scheme is still being finalised by the Department of Finance and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, I understand that it is the intention that the employer will collect the charge, in arrears, through the payroll system. Full details of the Scheme will be published in the Finance Bill (Finance No.2 Bill 2008) on 20th November next.
It is intended that the levy will be applied only to private cars, so vans, etc. will be excluded. I also understand that it is envisaged that in certain cases, e.g. where someone is registered as a disabled driver, exceptions will be made.
Given that Leinster House will be within one of the designated areas where the levy applies, there is no reason why Members of the Oireachtas and their staff would be excluded. Similarly, there are no plans for exemptions for civil or public servants whose parking is within the designated areas.
The levy is being introduced in the context of the Government’s commitment to supporting a sustainable environment and it is expected to make a positive contribution to reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint.
These are challenging times, and we are facing these challenges. Through investment, through putting in place a new policy framework for transport, and through putting in place a new institutional framework for transport in the Greater Dublin Area, we are rising to meet the challenges not only of today but of the coming years.
Once again, I would like to thank the Chairman for inviting me here today, and to congratulate the winners of this year’s parking awards.
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