Car Park Notice
Oct.15th will see the introduction of Pay and Display in the church car park. We refer you to a special leaflet on this development
 

Starting on Monday 15th of October, pay-and-display parking will be introduced in the church car park in Dalkey.
The new arrangements are being introduced in order to ensure that parishioners coming to Mass and other services will be able to find parking space.
It is a step I have been most reluctant to take, because I know that the number of people who have used the car park when going to work, shopping or socialising will be inconvenienced by the change. I would stress that under the new arrangements nobody will have to pay a parking fee to attend Sunday or scheduled weekday Mass.
Since the introduction of pay-and-display parking on the streets of Dalkey, it has become increasingly difficult to free up parking places in the car park for those going to Mass and other services. On occasion, there have been as many as 40 cars parked in the car park when it was opened on Sunday mornings. That is to say, almost half the spaces were occupied before anyone arrived for Mass. On weekdays, too, it is not unusual for Mass-goers to find the car park full on arrival for 10 o'clock Mass.
Park Rite, a large firm operating car parks and parking systems throughout the  country, will operate the car park and the pay-and-display system.
The basic rules by which it will operate have been agreed with the Parish and the Diocese, but the day to-day operation will be a matter for Park Rite.
The arrangements will be set out in notices at the car park, but the following is an outline of the main points.

• Charging Hours will be the same as on the streets of Dalkey i.e. Monday to Saturday inclusive from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Charges will also be the same as on the streets (currently €1.50 per hour, with a maximum of  Three hours), except that the minimum charge will be 50 cent, for ease of administration.

• The car park will be open on Sundays from 8 a.m. to midnight. There will be no parking charges on Sundays.
~ The car park will be open 24 hours a day Monday to Friday.

  

Yellow Lines in the Car-Park
Parishioners will have noticed two new yellow lines bordering the car-park spaces between the main gate and the central island. These lines indicate the margins of the driveway on this section. This is the main access route to the car-park and must cater for a two-way flow of traffic.

The distance between these yellow lines is the minimum width for a double carriageway and any intrusion into the space between the lines by cars parked on either side will cause an obstruction. The driveway is then reduced to a single lane and parishioners wishing to enter the car-park for the next Mass cannot gain access  while other parishioners are leaving after an earlier Mass. The obstruction also makes for difficulty in the case of drivers entering or leaving the parking bays immediately opposite.

We would therefore ask parishioners with cars too long to fit behind the yellow lines to use the main section of the car-park where there is a one-way system in use and plenty of space to cater for the one lane of traffic involved. As a corollary to this we would ask parishioners with shorter cars to give preference to the parking bays inside the new yellow lines.

Your cooperation in this matter will benefit all parishioners using the car park.