Parking charges in Mayo town are being reviewed

Mayo County Council is proposing a new system of parking charges in Westport town and at Murrisk car park beside Croagh Patrick.

The local authority has launched a public consultation seeking submissions from interested parties, which remains open until September 15.

It follows on from figures showing Westport town taking in just over €440,000 in parking fees during 2025 with Murrisk car park generating just over €60,000. This compares to more than €730,000 in Castlebar while Ballina took in over €620,000 last year.

Overall, the council generated in excess of €2 million through parking charges and fines in 2025 and had a surplus of over €1.1 million after costs.

However, when the figures were revealed at a council meeting in July, Westport-based Cllr Peter Flynn noted that revenue had actually declined in the county’s two largest towns – Ballina and Castlebar – since their town councils were disbanded in 2014.

“In the town council days, when charges were half as low, Castlebar consistently raised €1m; the same applied in Ballina, where over €800,000 was generally collected. Now that figure is down at €684,000, even though charges have gone up. Westport is the only exception, where income rose from €150,000 to €537,000 and that is because we increased the range and invested in on-the-street charges.” 

Cllr FLynn said the situation was “not logical and has to be due to the system not being managed as it was".

A review around the inconsistencies in revenue generated through car parking fees in the various Mayo towns as well as the high proportion of parking fines rolled out in Westport in 2025 (over €90,000) is now being carried out by council, with a view to standardising parking bye-laws.

The council states the changes to charging being proposed for Westport now are to support effective management of parking, improve accessibility, encourage turnover of parking spaces and contribute to ongoing maintenance and development of parking infrastructure.

Under the current system, Westport has designated parking zones with pay and display meters, while a flat parking fee is applied at the Murrisk car park. Full details on the proposed changes are on www.mayo.ie.