To ask the Minister for Infrastructure (i) for his assessment of the prevalence of mother and baby car parking spaces in public car parks; and (ii) to detail any plans he has to encourage an increase in this number.

The management of the majority of publicly provided off-street carparks transferred from the Department to local Councils on 1 April 2015. The provision of dedicated parking bays for specific purposes is therefore a matter for the local Council which operates the facility.

The off-street parking places operated by the Department are “park and ride” or “park and share”.

Park &Ride sites are primarily a facility to encourage and promote modal shift by utilising public transport as an alternative to the private car. Park & Share sites are primarily directed at commuters and are generally located at key interchange junctions to provide an off-road facility for sharing of car borne journeys to a common destination.

Parent and Baby spaces are mostly found in 'attractor' car parks, particularly supermarkets. The wider bays are designed to give parents enough space to manoeuvre their young children in and out of their cars, especially when they have bulky carriers or pushchairs.