Surface-mounted sensor concerns after resident trips over one in car park

“19 and a problem already identified.”

Concerns were raised about surface-mounted sensors in a Rathfarnham shopping centre car park after a local tripped over one of the round objects.

A local resident in Rathfarnham tripped over a sensor on the ground in the car park of Rosemount Shopping Centre, which was installed to help the development of an accessible parking app.

Bluebade is an app where registered ‘Bluebadge’ holders may access details of available disabled parking spaces from within an initial 19 identified locations strategically chosen across the county.

The sensors were installed in Q4 2025 as part of a pilot following a €25k budget allocation in 2024 for a feasibility study on whether such a tool could work.

Councillor Paddy Cosgrave noted that the lady who was hurt was walking from Mass to the car park when she tripped over the object and described it as “dangerous.”

Councillor David McManus called for more clarity on what happens in spaces like car parks, so that elected members are not left without an answer when someone comes to them with a concern such as the sensor issue.

Cllr McManus said: “I think we could probably solve a lot of these things if the councillors were just told in advance what was happening in some of our public car parks.”

The sensors that were installed a few months back have been replaced with flush-mount versions which South Dublin County Council stated is a move to mitigate against any risk to slips and trips.

Senior Executive Officer at SDCC’s Roads Department, Mary Maguire noted that the local authority are negotiating with the developers of the app over the cost of the replacements.

Maguire discussed the future of the scheme following the lady’s fall and the replacement of the original sensors.

The Senior Executive Officer stated: “Depending on how this pilot rolls out will determine whether or not it will be further advanced.

“There are obviously different suggestions and different schools of thought and there’s even bigger and better things about having perhaps Bluebadge incorporated into a bigger pilot and having Bluetooth and their badges linked into an overall scheme so that they would register as being valid users of the spots.

“The sky is the limit basically, but we are very small fry here at the moment.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.