A SIDE OF one of Dublin’s most famous Georgian squares – Merrion Square South – has emerged as the main blackspot for illegal parking in Dubin last year, as overall clamping levels in the capital rose by 6% to almost 47,000 vehicles.

New figures published by Dublin City Council show a total of 46,931 vehicles were clamped in the city in 2024 – a daily average of 128 – and an annual increase of just over 2,800, which represents a return to levels last recorded in pre-pandemic years.

Merrion Square South – which is located near the rear entrance to Dáil Éireann – was the prime location for the detection of illegal parking last year, with 704 vehicles being clamped on the street.

It is the first time that the city centre location, which links Merrion Street Upper and Fitzwilliam Street Lower, has topped the list of busiest areas for parking enforcement.

It was ranked in 4^th place in 2023 when 596 vehicles were clamped there – over 100 fewer than last year.

Approximately half of all vehicles clamped in Dublin last year were immobilised for the failure to pay for use of a parking bay or have a valid parking ticket.

Over 5,000 vehicles were clamped for parking on a clearway with Clarendon Street and Ranelagh, accounting for more than 20% of all such cases.

Another 3,200 were clamped for unauthorised parking in a loading bay with two locations – Rathmines Road Lower and Foley Street – accounting for more than 10% of the total.

Almost 1,800 vehicles were detected parking on a footpath with 7% of all infringements occurring on New Ireland Road in Rialto.

Another 1,700 vehicles were caught parking in a bus lane with more than a quarter detected on Waterloo Road.

A total of 450 motorists were found leaving their vehicles in a parking space for disabled persons without displaying a valid badge, while 39 were detected parking on a cycle track.

Just one motorist was clamped for misuse of a parking space for electric vehicle charging.

The overall increase in the number of clamped vehicles in Dublin last year comes against a background of significant traffic changes introduced in the second half of 2024, which were designed to restrict private vehicles accessing certain roads and discouraging motorists from using the city centre for cross-city journeys.

Figures provided by Dublin City Council under freedom of information legislation show revenue from parking was unaffected by the changes as income from parking fees rose by 15% to €36.8m – an annual increase of almost €4.8m.

An additional €5.3m was raised in clamping release fees, which were up 9% on figures from 2023.

The council also received €904,523 from parking fines issued by traffic wardens last year – an annual increase of 6%.

Parking fines were reintroduced in the capital in July 2021 to complement the council’s main parking enforcement method of clamping vehicles in order to address illegal parking offences such as parking on footpaths and bus lanes.

Almost 10,600 vehicles were towed away last year for either parking in a bus lane, in a clearway, blocking an entrance to a premise or for being clamped for over 24 hours without payment.

Most motorists pay the standard clamp release fee of €125.

However, if the release fee is not paid within 24 hours, vehicles are moved to the city pound and can only be recovered on payment of a removal fee of €250 plus a daily storage charge of €35 per day.

The figures show one motorist who failed to pay for parking on Summer Street North in August last year had to pay €950 to get their vehicle back.

Twenty-four other motorists had to pay amounts in excess of €500 to retrieve their vehicles.

The latest data shows Merrion Square South replaced Ranelagh – the name of the main street in the southside suburb of the same name – as the city’s main blackspot in 2024.

The detection of illegally parked vehicles in Ranelagh decreased by 40% last year to 518 incidents and fell to 7^th place in the rankings.

Clarendon Street – which runs parallel to Grafton Street at the back of the Westbury Hotel – retained its ranking as the second most common location for vehicles to be clamped with 693.

It was followed by South Circular Road (677); Mespil Road (616); North Circular Road (572) and Merrion Square West (531).

The ten main blackspots remained the same albeit with a change in rankings in most cases.

The only new locations to join the top 20 danger areas for clamping in 2024 were Grantham Street and St Anthony’s Road in Rialto, which replaced York Street and Mercer Street Upper.

Vehicles were found to be parked illegally at around 1,570 different locations across the city by parking enforcement staff from Dublin Street Parking Services operating on behalf of the council.

The greatest number of vehicles clamped in a single day last year was 218 on Wednesday, 12 June.

Data provided by Dublin City Council show motorists are most likely to be clamped on Thursdays, while approximately a quarter of all vehicles were clamped between 8am and 10am.

November was the month with the largest number of clamped vehicles at 4,439.

Figures provided by the other local authorities in Dublin show that illegal parking in some areas surpasses the level of the problem in the city, with 1,586 motorists fined for a parking offence on Main Street in Lucan last year.

They accounted for 15% of all parking fines issued by wardens in the administrative area of South Dublin County Council in 2024.

In Fingal County Council, the worst illegal parking blackspot was North Street in Swords with 1,365 motorists being fined.

Top 20 blackspots in Dublin for illegal parking in 2024