Waterford City and County Council has said it may have to stop using its Waterford parking app if issues around a €1 administration charge cannot be resolved.

The issue was raised at July’s meeting Plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council, where Councillor Eamon Quinlan questioned why some motorists are being charged an extra €1 when paying for parking through the app.

He said councillors set parking charges for the city and county and had never approved an additional fee.

“We councillors set the parking charges across Waterford City and County. People are showing me screenshots saying there is a €1 administration charge now being taken when people are booking their parking through the app. It’s a charge people can’t opt out of. It’s associated with the parking, so I feel it’s a runaround and a dodge. We councillors have not approved that extra fee. I think we the councillors are within our rights to challenge that euro and it should not be there attached to people parking,” he said.

In a statement, Waterford City and County Council said it does not charge any registration or top-up fees for customers using the Waterford eParking app by ParkMagic.

The council explained that the €1 fee can apply to customers who already have a standard ParkMagic account linked to other services, such as a TollTag, or who have used the app in other local authority areas. In those cases, the charge is applied by ParkMagic under its own terms and conditions, not by the council.

The council stressed that it does not receive the money from the fee.

It also said that anyone who only wants to use the app for parking in Waterford can close their existing ParkMagic account and open a new Waterford City and County Council-only account, where no registration or top-up fees apply.

Anyone who believes they have been charged incorrectly is being advised to contact Waterford City and County Council Customer Services.

However, during the council meeting, Head of Transport Gabriel Hynes acknowledged there is a problem that still needs to be sorted out.

“We are having issues with our parking app. We are liaising with our contractor to resolve the issue and we will be only charging what we are allowed to charge as per the by-laws. We hope to get it resolved as soon as possible, but if we can’t, we will have to discontinue the parking app,” he told councillors.

While the council says the €1 fee is charged by ParkMagic rather than the local authority, Mr Hynes’ comments suggest discussions are continuing with the operator to ensure motorists are only charged what is permitted under the council’s parking by-laws.

Councillor Eamon Quinlan also raised concerns about the minimum top-up amounts on the app, saying he has been contacted by members of the public who claim they are being forced to top up their accounts by €10 or more, even if they only need to pay for a short stay. He questioned what happens to any money left sitting on a user’s account after they have finished parking.

He also highlighted what he described as glitches with the app. One example involved a motorist who tried to pay for parking at 10.47am but received an error message saying parking was only available between 8.30am and 6.30pm, despite attempting to pay during those hours. Quinlan said issues like these are causing frustration for motorists and need to be addressed.

The future of the app now appears to depend on whether those issues can be resolved.