Greater education is needed to stop people from parking illegally in disabled bays.
That is the view of Mark Barry of the Irish Wheelchair Association, who says disabled parking spots are necessities - not a politically correct statement.
He told Newstalk Breakfast disabled people really do need them.
"I think it's the bane of a lot of people's lives, especially in terms of people with disabilities who are new to their disability.
"It's one of the first things that you kind of access when you're back on the road and you're driving with your family or yourself.
"It's an important facility to have - I think Operation Enable has played a massive part in that with An Garda Síochána.
"That's been really good on Twitter and Facebook and the profile of that and kind of a deterrent for people that don't need to park in the bays not to.
"But I also think just the piece around education into why they're necessary, and why the parking bays are necessary, so they really do need those spaces.
"They're not for optics or a statement of being politically correct: they really do need them, so these things are really really important."
Mark says if a disabled bay is taken by someone who does not need it, it means he cannot go places.
"There's fewer accessible parking bays than there are regular bays, and if someone was able to park up in a regular parking bay they would - who had a physical disability or who is a wheelchair user.
"So that can be the difference from going on your holiday around Ireland during restrictions, and accessing a tourist spot and having the options of two or three accessible bays and then finding out that you can't use them - and that you're not able to use another parking bay."
And he says enforcement is important.
"Things like this - this type of interview, or visual adverts around the need for accessible parking bays and why someone with a disability would need them - is really important.
"But also around private operators, like shopping centres and places like that, whereby the Guards don't come in and enact the legislation - so I think that's really important as well".
Mark adds that he has confronted some people over the issue, and has been "threatened, been sworn at, been ignored - ignorance is a good one where people just walk away, or to mind my own business - which is a bit ironic".
