Concerns over fall in Mayo town's car parking income
The drop in revenue has been questioned.
A fall in Castlebar’s car parking charges income has been questioned.
Independent Cllr Harry Barrett raised the issue at a recent meeting of Castlebar Municipal District.
In 2025, car parking charges and fines totalling €765,671 were collected in the county town. Some €736,341 was collected in charges while fines amounting to €29,330 were issued.
Cllr Barrett said the numbers fall below what was collected during the era of Castlebar Town Council. In one particular year, €1m was collected during the days of the Town Council, which was abolished in 2014.
He said while traffic numbers are increasing, parking income is falling.
“That’s significant money that we need to push the projects that we all talk about in here. It’s all about the finances, it’s all about having the money for the projects we need to get done. We can’t stand over that loss of revenue,” said Cllr Barrett. “It’s one of our only funding streams that we have control over and it’s something that has to improve."
He called for the town to modernise and introduce a parking app as seen in other towns in the county.
Head of Castlebar Municipal District Ann Moore said there are plans to roll out a parking app in the town in the coming months. Director of Services David Mellett said the €1m figure was something of an outlier with in the region of €800,000 usually collected annually in the area during the Town Council era.
“We know that the income dropped during Covid time and it has been gradually increasing the last number of years,” said Ms Moore.
She said a large number of permits issued and changes to driver behaviour may have contributed to the drop off. Ms Moore said parking bye-laws are also under review in the town.
Mayo County Council generated more than €2 million through parking charges and fines during 2025. Revenue in Castlebar and Ballina fell below what was raised a decade ago. A breakdown of income by town showed Ballina took in €624,429, with fines of €59,775, for a total of €684,204; Ballinrobe took in €64,926, with fines of €9,010, totalling €73,936; Claremorris took in €123,470, with fines of €20,725, totalling €144,195; Westport took in €446,456, with fines of €91,225, totalling €537,681.
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
