Why is space for cars seen as sacrosanct?

It’s very hard to park a car if there isn’t space.

Businesses rely a lot on customers who arrive by car, and therefore try to facilitate easy parking.

Business owners who travel by car overestimate the proportion of their customers who travel by car.

When you are trying to take something away from people you have to tread very warily.

Your idea might be sound but you have to be careful how you go about it.

FB was probably a bad place to start because posters jump in and say things they wouldn't say at a meeting.

Who uses those carparking spaces and are there alternatives?

The first issue is that you think this is an Irish issue. It’s really not. Car ownership in Ireland is slightly less than EU average. The same issues exist everywhere

It seems like the local population on Facebook disagree with you, but maybe contact the local business community and even the TDs on your own to canvass their opinion. If the local cafes etc can get behind the campaign, it might have a chance.

I recently moved to an area with far more to offer within walking distance and leaving the car untouched for days is great. I wish you well

A Tucson isn’t an SUV it’s a crossover basically an I30 on stilts it’s a smaller car than an average family saloon

One big argument motorists can always put forward I suppose is the colossal amount of tax they contribute to the excheqeur. Between the VRT , car tax and tax on fuels there must be a good few billion flowing in every year. In addition they pay for the spaces they use in most instances and also pay tolls. Then there's VAT on tyres , parts and services etc. Maybe after all that a bit of space isn't too much to ask.

Maybe motorists should look at both sides of that account before they jump to conclusions? Maybe they should look at the huge costs of road infrastructure, and the huge amounts of wear-and-tear caused by their ever-growing vehicles? Maybe they should look at the huge amounts of Garda and Courts time and costs dedicated to restricting their habits of killing themselves and others on the road with alarming regularity? Maybe they should look at the huge health costs involved in the pollution coming from their engines, their brake pad particles and their tyre particles? Maybe they should look at the huge costs of the huge amounts of public space given over to storing their private property, often for free?

Do you see many donkeys in towns these days?

I want. I can afford. Therefore I get. Regardless of the effect it has on public space. No, that's not the end of the story. By all means, people should be allowed to buy whatever car masks their perceived inadequacies and makes them feel bigger than all the other road users, but they shouldn't expect to be allowed to use or store it in public places where it simply doesn't fit, or where it poses an added danger to vulnerable road users.

Incentivise smaller cars by punishing people who buy larger ones. Make it so that dragging a Range Rover into an urban area is absolutely not worth it.

it is, but it’s still not an SUV

One advantage of on street parking is that it can reduce speed which is a good thing in an urban area. In the street where I live (very low kerbs) almost every car on both sides used to be parked with two wheels on the footpath. A few months ago, Gardai began issuing tickets so now they all park fully on the street which means that drivers using the street have to yield to each other as there isn't enough room for two meeting vehicles to pass. It has greatly reduced the speed and feels safer IMO.