Fianna Fáil says it will give us 90 minutes free parking in urban villages if we vote for them, a policy like that could save you €8 a day if it was introduced in the city centre.

The opposition party's suggestion would save someone in an urban village 90c per day, but the move inspired Newstalk.com to look at daytime rates at some of Dublin city centre's top private carparks.

We discovered the top three most expensive carparks are all in Dublin 2.

Molesworth Street's Q-Park Setanta carpark is the most expensive of all, charging a whopping €4 per hour. Maybe it is this carpark's proximity to Leinster House that gave the opposition party the idea in the first place?

With the national minimum wage currently set at €8.65 per hour for an experienced adult, that means the first 28 minutes of your work day could be spent just paying off your car parking.

The second most expensive spot was Trinity St with an hourly rate of €3.50.

Third was the Stephen's Green Royal College of Surgeons carpark at €3.40 per hour.

Most car parks offer value offers of some kind, with motorists being rewarded for staying longer, but some carparks actually charge more once you go past the first three hours.

According to The Irish Parking Association: "Parking charges vary, but lie between €2.50 per hour to about €3.10 per hour". But all of the top three most expensive carparks we surveyed charge over €3.40.

The next most expensive carparks are Christchurch Park Rite, Thomas St and Brown Thomas at €3.20 per hour and Fleet St Park Rite at €3.10 per hour.

Trailing them, carparks at Dawson St, Jervis St, Marlboro St, Drury St and Grand Canal Square all charge €3 per hour.

The best value can be found at Connolly and Heuston station carparks where motorists are charged just €1.50 per hour or €8 for 24 hours.

Street parking

Meanwhile, for those who prefer to park on the street you might already be aware that the City Council zones areas and charges accordingly.

So you pay more for parking if you are in a yellow zone for example, then if you were in a green zone.

How do you know? Look at the colour stripe on the parking signs along the street, and then check your rate at the pay point.

The colour stripe on Dublic City Councils parking signs indicate parking rates

Yellow indicates very high demand zones where parking costs €2.90 per hour, red is a high demand zone where you will pay €2.40 per hour, green is medium demand and will cost €1.60 per hour while orange is deemed to be low demand.

Suburban villages are coded blue and parking is charged at 60c per hour here.

The benefit of using a private carpark is that you can stay for longer, and you can pay once - usually on departure. If you park on the street you are only allowed to leave your car in situ for three hours.

Dublin's street parking zones mapped. Fig: Dublin City Council

*information on car parking rates was taken from AA Roadwatch, or from the carparks themselves.