Galway parking meter debacle hits City Council coffers to tune of €152,000
Income generated by Galway City Council from parking charges collapsed by €152,000 in 2025, a year dominated by the parking meter debacle and the introduction of a new parking app.
Director of Finance at Galway City Council Helen Kilroy presented unaudited financial statements to city councillors this week showing the local authority made a surplus of €10,000 last year, which was “much smaller than previous years”.
Galway City Councillor Declan McDonnell (Ind) said the accounts confirmed that the “parking difficulties” last year with meters out-of-order and some people unable to pay for parking on the new app had contributed to the Council’s worse financial position.
“The surplus is down by €18,000 but €152,000 was lost on parking. If we hadn’t had the parking difficulties the position in 2025 would be a surplus of more than €160,000,” Cllr McDonnell told Monday’s City Council meeting.
“Without the €152,000 (in parking income) you still made a surplus,” Cllr McDonnell said.
The parking fiasco blew up in the New Year when cash and card payments were stopped at Galway City Council’s network of 90 Pay and Display machines.
The Council introduced a parking app in January 2025 but confusion reigned and the local authority then brought in a ‘grace period’ where parking was free for weeks. After that, tapping to pay for parking was no longer available, but some machines took coins.
The coin option was then removed completely, and the machines were covered with hoods, because most were temporarily out of order, not accepting cash or card.
Councillor McDonnell said the difficulties cost the Council a surplus of €152,000.
Elsewhere in the unaudited accounts, Ms Kilroy confirmed that the collection of Commercial Rates increased by 5% last year, reaching 91%.
She also confirmed that the City Council collected an additional €1m in Local Property Tax last year, partly due to homeowners revaluing their house prices.
Councillor John McDonagh (Lab) said the accounts showed that almost €5m was spent on street cleaning. “This is something we need to be highlighting more,” he said.
The April City Council meeting heard that payroll costs increased by €4.48m last year at City Hall, partly due to national wage agreements and partly due to the hiring of additional staff.