Editorial: A new twist in Stormont's stupid free hospital parking policy for Northern Ireland

The idiocy of the free hospital parking decision by Stormont is again in the spotlight.

This ridiculous policy goes back to 2021 when Sinn Fein pushed for an end to all health trust parking charges. While a party as populist as SF can be relied upon to back financially stupid measures such as that, the rest of the then assembly does not come out of the saga looking much better. There was barely any opposition to the measure.

Now the policy is suspended, but it will temporarily be free to park at all hospitals for a few weeks due to a delay in enacting the policy reversal. But that absurdity is not the key issue in this farce. The key issue is the utter inability of Stormont almost ever to make difficult but appropriate financial decisions.

No doubt the politicians who backed this measure thought it was an act of kindness towards people who are ill and who work in the health service. But has no MLA visited the Ulster Hospital, within easy walking distance of the assembly, and noticed that there is so much demand for the most desirable car park at the front of the main building that long queues wait to get access to it, despite the charge? This can block the access of frail patients trying to get to the disabled car park or left off at the door.

A high rise car park with reasonable charges is also heavily used. Yet it seems not to occur to MLAs that abolishing charges will make the situation worse and cause some people to abandon using taxis or public transport because driving becomes the cheapest option.

It does not take an Einstein to devise a fair system of parking, in which disabled people and staff in emergency departments get the closest, best places. In which modest parking charges are used for the biggest public car parks, and in which most staff then park a bit further away in large car parks that are either free or have lesser charges than the public ones.

But such a reasonable solution is beyond Stormont.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​