Paid parking tariffs to increase in this Kildare municipal district

Paid parking tariffs in the Celbridge-Leixlip municipal district are due to increase in January 2027, it can be revealed.

Local councillors voted in favour of increasing the parking tariff from €1.00 per hour to €1.50 per hour in both towns at a special meeting of Celbridge-Leixlip Municipal District held on Friday, October 23 last.

The decision was largely made due to a significant deficit in revenue for paid parking fees, and amid fears this would negatively impact Local Property Tax (LPT) funding.

The move to increase tariffs is an initiative of Kildare County County, voted on by local county councillors.

It has further been decided that there is to be no 'amnesty' for paid parking this Christmas period, with Cathaoirleach Cllr David Trost (FF) citing concerns it would send out “mixed messages” with the imminent parking fee increase.

The three issues – paid parking fees for Celbridge; paid parking fees for Leixlip; and Christmas parking – were raised at a recent MD meeting, but were deferred until October 23 to afford councillors more time for discussion.

“In fairness this is a Kildare County Council initiative, it's not limited to here, it's limited to the whole of Kildare and each year they have to meet up and discuss what we're going to do with in terms of these recommendations. So it's by no means limited to our area.”, Cllr Trost told The Leinster Leader recently.

“There was a certain amount of debate, but to be honest all the members had received a briefing and there had been discussions amongst members as well.

“Ultimately it was decided to proceed with the recommendations to increase the tariffs from January of next year and that was covering both Celbridge and Leixlip. And also it was agreed that there would not be an elimination of the charge coming up to Christmas.”

According to Cllr Trost, the cost of implementing parking in the district “significantly exceeds the amount of money coming in”, and eliminating the parking fees over Christmas would be sending “mixed messages” to motorists.

“If it was not done (tariff increases), you would be looking at significant deficits and costs are increasing constantly. So we'd be looking at a situation where the LPT allocation for next year would be impacted if there was no increase on the tariffs. So it would be leaving less money for groups who would be applying for funding.”

Social Democrat councillor for Celbridge, Cllr Claire O'Rourke recently stated she could not support tariff increases while parking remains in such short supply in the town, a sentiment which was put to Cllr Trost.

“There's no doubt about it, there is a lack of parking in both Leixlip and Celbridge, it's not adequate. I would hope that over time new sites would be identified for potential improvement. We lost access to the St Raphael's site in Celbridge for example, due to difficulties, with the result that the number of parking spaces has reduced in Celbridge, but also Leixlip certainly has a deficit of parking availability as well.”

Cllr Trost stated he was “confident” the MD made the correct choice on parking tariffs, difficult as it may have been:

“Certainly, nobody wants to increase tariffs, absolutely not, but at the end of the day we have to look at deficits we're facing at the moment, and you have to make hard choices.”

Parking tariffs will now increase in the Celbridge-Leixlip municipal district from January 2027.