Revealed: Cork's illegal parking blackspots with one street the worst in Ireland
Figures provided by Cork City Council show traffic wardens issued a total of 3,212 fines for a variety of parking offences on the city's main thoroughfare – known colloquially as 'Pana' – in 2024.
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It is the fourth year in a row that St Patrick's Street has recorded the most number of parking offences for any location in the Republic with levels more than double the prime location for illegal parking in Dublin – the Main Street in Lucan where just under 1,600 fines were issued last year.
The number of vehicles detected parking illegally on Cork's busiest street last year also increased by 4 per cent.
Almost 90 per cent of cases related to motorists being issued with fines of €40 for parking in an area of St Patrick's Street where parking was not permitted or for parking in a space reserved for special classes of vehicles, such as goods vehicles or taxis.
Figures released under freedom of information legislation show half of all parking offences on St Patrick's Street are detected between 3pm and 5pm.
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Overall, the figures reveal a total of 49,178 parking fines were issued by Cork City Council last year – a decrease of less than 1 per cent on the total number issued in 2023.
However, income from parking fines rose slightly to over €2.03 million.
Total revenue from parking including fees for on-street parking and council-owned car parks as well as fines increased by almost 1% per cent to €9.34 million – an annual increase of over €73,000.
The latest figures also show 6 out of 10 motorists were issued with a parking fine in Cork city last year for the failure to display a parking disc or having an invalid disc.
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Around 8,500 were caught parking in a 'no parking' area or on double yellow lines, while almost 5,000 were detected parking illegally in loading bays.
A total of 754 motorists were issued with a higher €150 fine for parking in a space reserved for disabled drivers, with a high proportion of such vehicles caught on South Mall.
Two motorists were fined €200 for using a disabled parking permit other than for the convenience of the person to whom it was issued.
Around 2,400 drivers were hit with an €80 fine for parking on footpaths, cycle tracks, bus lanes and in spaces reserved for electric vehicles with a particular blackspot being MacCurtain Street.
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There are around 8,000 paid on-street parking spaces in Cork with approximately 1,800 in the city centre area.
Parking offences were detected at 630 different locations across the city by parking wardens last year.
Motorists are most likely to be issued with fines between Tuesday and Friday with peak detections of parking offences occurring between 11am and 12 midday followed by 9-10am and 12 midday-1pm.
The figures show that other common locations for illegal parking in Cork city are South Mall, Connaught Avenue, Mardyke Walk and Grand Parade.
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