5-4 VOTE VETOES FREE SATURDAY PARKING IN MONAGHAN TOWN

After some fraught debate and occasional fraying of tempers at Tuesday night’s meeting of Monaghan Town Council, the elected members decided by the narrowest of voting margins not to proceed with a Sinn Féin proposal to introduce free parking in the county capital from noon each Saturday from now until the Christmas period.

While a number of measures aimed at stimulating greater trade in the town were agreed, the combined opposition of the other groupings on the authority defeated the SF move – which was condemned as a pre-local elections stunt by some speakers but stoutly defended by Sean Conlon and his colleagues as a potentially valuable business stimulus that would increase footfall in the town centre on an important trading day.

Town Manager Paul Clifford calculated that the proposal would result in a loss of revenue to the Council in the region of €30,000, and because of its impact on the 2014 Budget agreed by the members in December, corresponding savings or alternative sources …