Submission to the Department of Transport

Cyclist.ie sent in a detailed submission to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport today in response to its consultation on Greenways. 
 
We want to see an extensive network of high quality Greenways built throughout Ireland, which themselves form one plank of a wider strategy of creating a safe environment for people of all ages and abilities to cycle in. This requires serious funding and leadership from Minister Ross’ Department. We need to make cycling safe and normal again! 
 
We also stressed in our submission the importance of providing top quality Greenways and cycleways from within our cities leading out onto quieter rural roads. In the capital, this means building a safe Liffey Cycle Route, complete Greenaways alongside the Royal and Grand Canals, alongside the Dodder and Santry Rivers, and of course an East Coast Trail / Sutton to Sandycove route. We urgently also need equivalent green networks in Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Sligo. 
 
You can read our submission here
 
A sincere thanks to Cyclist.ie’s super volunteers for providing input into the submission – and indeed for sending in their own submissions. 

Cycling without Age

‘Cycling Without Age’ is a member group of Cyclist.ie. We received this update from Clara Clarke.

We thought you might like a brief update on our progress since we had the national launch on 13 June in Dun Laoghaire.  Our sincere thanks to CWA founder Ole Kassow who came from Copenhagen, and to the DLR Cathaoirleach Cormac Devlin for ‘launching’ us. Thanks also to the Irish Ambassador to Denmark, Cliona Manahan, and to the Cultural Officer of the Danish Embassy in Dublin, Eva Rauser. Our passengers on the day were Ernie and Phyllis from Ashbury Nursing Home, Deansgrange, who quickly became celebrities!

People travelled from all over Ireland to see the bike and be part of this amazing new initiative. We have had massive media publicity both on the day and since, with radio interviews continuing. We now have three confirmed companies willing to sponsor bikes and donate them to nursing homes of their choice, with several other companies talking to us. The first sponsored bike arrived in Dublin last week. Companies will send their staff to be pilots as part of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) programmes. And what a fun way to be doing your CSR! Taking residents out for spins, chatting and sharing stories and all feeling the wind in their hair! And, if you think that cycling might be too much for older people, take a look at the ‘Convoy’ photo attached. On our trip to Denmark last week to visit Cycling Without Age there, we took a convoy of 15 rickshaw bikes with quite frail nursing home residents out for an all-day 40 km cycle – and they loved it! So, age is no limit and we just want to give as many people as possible the fun and freedom experience of Cycling Without Age.