A Dublin councillor looking for a blind eye turned to motorists parking on footpaths in residential areas to continue has been told by council officials that parking on footpaths is illegal and that parking on a road where it obstructs road users is also illegal. The issue of parking on footpaths was discussed at Dublin City Council Central Area Committee this month after a member of the public complained that cars were clamped for parking on footpaths in Cabra.Up until around three years ago, a total blind eye had been turned to enforcement on residential streets. But, as Dublin Inquirer reported at the time, the citys transport committee and officials agreed to change their focus to enforce illegal parking on footpaths except where the space left on footpaths was greater than 2.5 metres. Cllr Cieran Perry (independent) said: Ive had a couple of reports of cars being clamped for parking two wheels on the path and as weve discussed on numerous occasions given the size of the roads in the Cabra area its not possible to park on the road without full four wheels of the road without blocking the roads, so if that could be raised with the relevant bodies please.Jaoa Brescia, a council official, said: Cllr Perry, about cars being clamped for parking the footpath thats under the Road Traffic Act. Its illegal to park in the footpath I understand that the road is narrow but parking the footpath is blocking the way for pedestrians, wheelchair users and everyone that needs to use the footpaths, so this needs to be enforced.Brescia said: If the road is not wide enough for parking, they should park in another place.Cllr Perry said: Thats a very serious decision now you seem to be publicised into this meeting that cars cannot park two wheels on the roads that wont allow traffic to pass if youre saying that and I ask people locally to park on the road, and they block numerous roads in Cabra.He said: Once we understand whoever made that call, be it yourselves or park enforcement, youll be answerable to any sort of disturbance in the area when cars cant simply drive up the majority of roads, particularly in Cabra East.William Mangan, another council official, said: Cllr Perry, just on that point, its actually illegal to park on a footpath and if the road is not wide enough, the car cant be parked on the road.Cllr Perry said: Im a councillor now 15 plus years. Ive had this discussion with people in parking enforcement and, given the roads and Cabra were built in the 1930s, there has always been an understanding that even if it was in breach, providing they werent blocking the footpath, that there would be a blind eye turned to people parking on the footpaths.So its a very serious reinterpretation of that agreement that we had that will result in roads being blocked in Cabra. So its a very serious review of that legislation, Cllr Perry said.Brescia said: Under the legislation its saying a car shouldnt be parked on a footway grass margin or a meting strip and a car shouldnt be parked in a manner which in which will interfere with the normal flow of traffic or which obstruct or in dangers of the traffic. Its under the law. Were not like just making this and parking enforcement they enforce under the law.He added: And if we are meant to do something different from whats written in the law, then the law should be changed, and we should not try to do something that goes beyond the law to allow people to do illegal things.Previously, around the same time that policy was changed, IrishCycle.com reported how a now former Labour councillor who supported footpath parking claimed that the militant wing of Green Party with fascist behaviour put a fatwa. The issue came to light at a council meeting after she had written to residents and promised that the then Labour Dublin Bay byelection candidate and now party leader Ivana Bacik had agreed to fight your case [to park on footpaths] in the Senate, or the Dail if successful in the bye election.