Local councillors have called on the management and owners of Liffey Valley Shopping Centre to reverse the decision to charge staff for car parking. Workers had been informed in September that they would be forced to pay for car parking from October onwards. Initially staff were told that they would have to pay full price which was later changed to a €600 fee per year. At the September meeting of the Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin Area Committee in South Dublin County Council elected representatives voted unanimously to write a letter to Liffey Valley asking them to reverse the decision. The motion, which was proposed by People Before Profit councillor Madeleine Johansson, expressed the disappointment of the local councillors with the decision by Liffey Valley.
People Before Profit TD’s for the area Gino Kenny and Bríd Smith also met with workers at the centre and have vowed to support them against the management. Cllr Madeleine Johansson commented: “Retail workers are some of the lowest paid workers in the country and the proposed car parking charges amounts to a significant pay cut for workers. Councillors were shocked by the decision by the centre to charge staff for parking. The owners and management of Liffey Valley made all sorts of promises to support the local community when they wanted councillors to re-zone their land last year. It seems that their generosity has gone out the window.”
Gino Kenny TD said: “I met with a number of workers from the centre recently, and I’m shocked that the centre is still going ahead with these charges for staff. Many staff members have no choice but to drive to the centre for work. Some work part-time and have to pick up children from school before or after work, while others live outside of Dublin with no public transport links. Workers are already struggling with the cost of living crisis and retail workers simply can’t afford to pay these charges. We will be supporting the workers in whatever way we can to defeat these unfair charges.”
