New legislation has been introduced in Ireland, which will make it an offence to provide false or misleading information to obtain a disabled parking sticker for your car.
Scarce resource
According to the Department of Transport: “Disabled parking bays are a scarce resource and are provided on public roads and car parks for drivers and passengers who have severely impaired mobility. The permit is intended to benefit people who are most directly disadvantaged by parking that does not meet their needs. This may be because spaces are inaccessible; too far away from their destination; or too small to allow exit from a vehicle with a wheelchair, walking aid or oxygen equipment. Consequently, misuse of these permits further disadvantages those with disabilities.”
The Department says that it has recently been closely working with the Gardai as well as the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) and the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland (DDAI). Those two organisations have reported a rise in the number of potentially fraudulent applications for disabled parking permits, including such ruses as providing false medical information and attempting to renew a permit previously held by a now-deceased family member.
€2,500 fine
Well, starting on March 27th, doing so will now incur a fine of €2,500 and/or up to six months in prison. Previously, the only offence was using a permit intended for another person.
Welcoming the introduction of the legislation, Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien said: “Permit application fraud is not a victimless crime. Obtaining a disabled parking permit through dishonest means undermines the disabled parking scheme, and compromises the availability of accessible spaces for those who genuinely need them. I welcome the fact that An Garda Síochána now have the appropriate powers to prosecute those who might want to take advantage of the scheme, and I believe that legitimate permit holders will greatly benefit from the deterrent effect of this new offence and penalty.”
Minister of State for International & Road Transport, Logistics, Rail and Ports, Seán Canney, said: “I welcome the introduction of these new measures ensuring the limited resource of accessible spaces are reserved for those who require it the most. Fraudulent application and the misuse of Disabled Parking Permits causes real hardship to people with limited mobility who require these spaces to access vital services and to go about their daily lives.”
Those with genuine needs
Tony Maher, National Transport Manager for the IWA, said: “The Irish Wheelchair Association welcome this new legislation. Having access to disabled parking spaces is essential for many motorists with disabilities. This legislation will enable the enforcement authorities to ensure that these disabled parking spaces are only used by those with genuine needs. It will, along with recent increases in fines for illegal use of parking permits, greatly assist in the proper management of these very valuable parking spaces.”
Kenneth Fox, Chief Executive Officer of the DDAI, added: “The Disabled Drivers Association is pleased to see this welcome development. It will be a strong deterrent against the fraudulent applications currently being detected, which are most commonly re-applications in the names of persons already deceased. While fraudulent applications are a very small minority of overall applications, they are still significant and are indicative of the wider misuse of permits by non-holders.The firm penalties associated with the new legislation are a recognition of the real hardship this behaviour can cause people with disabilities.”