Cllr Martin repeated his call in the light of Mayo County Councillors' decision to press ahead with the charges, which range up to €2.50 for eight hours car parking.
Cllr Martin has been critical of the introduction of the charges as he has previously described the parking fees as a "tax on tourism" in Murrisk and has expressed concerns that the charge will promote increased parking along the main roadway, in front of businesses and private residences, down boreens and around the Abbey and Graveyard.
Cllr Martin says that the proposed parking charge are still more expensive that parking in Westport Town. "Eight hours in Westport Town centre will cost you €2. In Murrisk you'll pay €2.50. People are just going to park on the roadway rather than pay this new charge.
"The pay and display system is unworkable in that no traffic warden from Mayo County Council is going to travel to Murrisk to enforce the system. It would simply cost too much. Therefore the system will be more 'Catch me if you can" than "Pay and Display'.
"Contrast the parking at the Reek with that at Knock, where the council provides a huge, well maintained and free car park. It's just not fair to charge for the same in Murrisk. There should always be free parking at the Reek, which is and has been, a centre of local and national religious significance for centuries. Neither should anyone have to pay to park to visit the National Famine memorial.
"Car Parking charges should be used to ensure a turnover of car parking spaces in busy areas, they should never be used as simple revenue collection system and should never be used in isolated villages like Murrisk.
"A voluntary contribution towards parking would be are more civilised approach in helping Murrisk Development Association in its work.
"I genuinely fear that introducing a car parking charge at the height of the greatest recession in history is going to be bad for Murrisk's tourism. I fear that people will continue on to destinations like Old Head and Louisburgh rather than stop at Murrisk.
"Ireland lost 1 million visitors in 2009 at a cost to our economy of nearly 1 billion euro. This year the figures are down by 12% overall and down by 17% in the west of Ireland. Now is not the time to bring in car parking charges at the Reek.
"For the dedicated pilgrims from Mayo and further afield this is a "Pay to Pray" charge and I appeal to the Westport Electoral Area Councillors to drop this now before any damage is done."
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Faithfully
Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182
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