Laws on overnight parking

Well you’re right to ask. I expect @baguette will be along soon to furnish you with the answer.

Many thanks

For reference, in Spain you can park where legal. If you put out chairs etc., you are camping.

No one said it was?

That's really clear, Baguette. Many thanks.

In Ireland, ALL land is in private ownership or is owned by The State.
Commonage is land which is in jointly owned by a number of people with specific shares in it, so it is not 'public' land.
Access to all land be it 'commonage' or otherwise in on the basis of permission, as are all private rights of way and this includes lands in State ownership like Coilte forest lands and trails.

There are two very different 'rights of way' in Ireland, public and private and they have very different meanings.
Of interest to us here, in relation to motorhome parking, is public rights of way, land on which the public have a right to travel on and not surprisingly these are generally our roads, which incidentally include such areas as public car parks.

So, to the issue experienced by The Rambler.
Given that the use of 'commonage' is permissive, those who have an ownership interest in the lands in question ultimately have the right to refuse that permission of access and ultimately can request law enforcement to enforce that right.

It all goes to reinforce that when we avail of permissive access to private lands to which we have no legal right of access we must be respectful of that access and the land we are using and not engage in any activity which the owner(s) may consider inappropriate.

From What i can see online most parking restrictions for campervans and motorhomes are restricted by local council bye laws (as mentioned above)

For example we park along the Shannon /Lough Derg mostly on the Tipperary side which is governed by Tipperary county council Nenagh municipal district amenity area bye-laws 2019.

Within this it outlines what constitutes 'Camping'
“Camping” – a vehicle is deemed to be camped when any of the following are
taking place:
 Stabilisers are deployed
 Awning/sunshade is deployed
 Cooking equipment is deployed (fires, barbecues, stoves, etc.
 Furniture (tables, chairs, etc) are deployed
 Washing is hung out
 Waste (solid or liquid) receptacles are deployed.

I carry a copy if ever challenged as there are some basic signage with just pictures that can be misconstrued by locals.
So in short parking at the likes of Garrykennedy, Terryglass and Balllina etc is allowed.


https://www.tipperarycoco.ie/s…dopted.pdf

This is not to do with overnight parking but is still on topic. So what do you all make of this picture I took in Salthill yesterday? Now I am not referring to the dubious attempt to dissuade motorhome parking. I am taking about the upper sign which indicates a bus-only parking zone. I don't see such a sign in the manual. The only legal restrictions on parking by vehicle type that I can see in the manual, are to do with vehicle weight, or restrictions on vehicles not being taxis, or for disabled.

I first notice these signs going up a couple of months back. They are routinely ignored and I myself paid about as much concern for them as I did the fanciful motorhome signs below. Nonetheless I am now the beneficiary of a Galway City Council parking fine for having parked my car in said 'bus' bay for a short period of time.

At the bus parking,is there any signs indicating buses only or similar?
I'd ignore the ticket and see what happens, I suspect nothing will come of it

There is also a sign restricting vehicles over 3,5000 kg which seems to fly in the face of bus parking, but that is not my concern here.

So the fine states:

"Parking a vehicle wholly or partly within roadway markings at an omnibus stopping place/stand contrary Article 36(2)(l) of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations, 1997"


The act:

(2) A vehicle shall not be parked—

( l ) where traffic sign RUS 031 [bus stop] or RRM 030 [stopping place or stand] has been provided unless the vehicle is an omnibus.

And referring to the regulatory signs handbook, sign RUS 031 is:



Yes I did see those signs there. So I guess they're covered. Those signs are spread down the entire road opposite Leisure Land side entrance. I don't think I can contest this one unfortunately.

You won't see them ticketing the cousins when they turn up eh.

You're goosed all right, can't park in designed bus stop.
'those signs are spread down the entire road', I wonder is that a new ploy to stop us from parking there as the previous attempts were without any enforceable law behind them.
It will be interesting to see how the area designated for bus parking relates to the demand by bus operators.

UK services are 2hrs then they charge, unsure on Ireland services