HEARINGS ON THE regulation of clamping by the Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht continue today.

It is the turn of the Independent Parking Appeals Officer and representatives from the Irish Parking Association to speak about the regulation of the vehicle clamping industry.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, TD, has asked the committee to take a role in the pre-Heads of Bill stage and contribute to the initial drafting of the legislation to regulate the vehicle clamping industry.

Committee Chairman Ciarán Lynch, TD commented:

This is the first time that a Committee has been asked to help draft Heads of a Bill and we will be considering the views of a number of interested parties which will help form part of a report which the committee will prepare on the issue. That report will contain a series of recommendations which will inform the drafting of legislation to regulate the industry.

The committee is currently holding a series of meetings with a number of representative stakeholder groups to consider and discuss their views on what the proposed legislation needs to address.

Today, they will meet with the Parking Appeals Officer and the Irish Parking Association to get their observations on clamping regulation.

Among the issues we will be addressing tomorrow and over the coming weeks are the requirement, or not, for new legislation and what the legislation should address, regulation of the industry, licensing for clamping companies, standards and codes of practice for operators, the appeals process and penalties.

This meeting will take place in Leinster House at 2.15pm, and can be watched live online.

Read: 12 jobs lost as clamping ends in Cork>