The cost of paid parking in Carrick on Shannon is set to rise next month.
Local councillors agreed to bring in the new system at a meeting of the Carrick on Shannon Municipal District to approve new bylaws.
The rules will see on-street parking increase to €1 an hour, with ticket machines currently being upgraded to accept both coins and card.
Several Councillors registered disappointment that a grace period for those parking their vehicles would not be written into the laws.
However, the council responded that local parking wardens will be told to use their discretion when it comes to short stop-offs.
Commenting on the proposal, Councillor Finola Armstrong Maguire urged the local authority to increase signage locally to help direct motorists to the various free car parks in the town.
Speaking to Shannonside FM news at the meeting, she says the council has worked hard to make the town as open as possible:
"The charges are minimal, we have brought them to as low as possible. I hope it is not an inconvenience. We have also upgraded our machines to take cards so that will be a gesture to everybody to pay something towards parking on the street.
I hope it invites people and they pay their parking and enjoy the street and the town. I do know the people who conduct the laws will look to leave the town as open as possible but there is no grace period."
