Cyclist.ie has had an intensely busy and fruitful period of campaigning over the last two years. In the text below, we list many of our highlights and main achievements in 2019 and 2020. It is broadly divided into Campaigns, Submissions, Presentations, International Advocacy Work and Organisational Developments. 

It is certainly not exhaustive, but will give a good sense of our core campaigning work. In summary though, our advocacy work has had a significant impact on national policy, on funding for cycling, and in supporting cycle campaigning at a local level which, in turn, is helping to shape the approaches of Local Authorities and communities in nurturing cycling. We look forward to an even more fruitful year in 2021!

2019 Highlights / Main Achievements

• Major Campaigns
  • #allocate4cycling campaign organised with the aim of prioritising investment in cycling. As part of this, many PQs (Parliamentary Questions) posed to TDs so as to help disentangle figures around the actual annual spend on cycling
    

• #Health Action Campaign run jointly with Health Bodies seeking concrete measures to facilitate active travel to form an integral part of the Climate Action Plan. https://cyclist.ie/2019/04/health-bodies-call-for-active-travel-in-climate-action-plan/ 
  • Supporting the #ibikeivote social media campaign to encourage those registered to vote in the local and European elections to get on their bikes and vote – and opt for candidates serious about active travel. 
  • Supporting the campaign (led by Cyclist.ie member group Stayin’ Alive at 1.5) to have a new regulation introduced on the dangerous overtaking of cyclists (finally announced on 11th November 2019 by Shane Ross, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport). https://cyclist.ie/2019/11/dangerous-overtaking-of-cyclists-legislation/ 
• 40 submissions drafted and delivered to government departments, agencies and local authorities on a wide variety of topics – for example:
  • to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on ‘Personal Powered Transport’ (i.e. ‘micro-mobility modes’ which include ‘e-scooters’) https://cyclist.ie/2019/11/cyclist-ie-response-on-dttas-consultation-on-personal-powered-transport-ppt/ 
  • and to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action. https://cyclist.ie/2019/01/submission-to-joint-oireachtas-committee-on-climate-action/ 
  • Pre-Budget (2020) Submission https://cyclist.ie/2019/08/cyclist-ie-pre-budget-submission-2020/ 
• Presentations to / meeting with: 
  • Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport – along with Dublin Cycling Campaign and I Bike Dublin – essentially to make the case for investing in cycling. https://cyclist.ie/2019/12/cycling-campaigners-at-the-oireachtas-transport-committee/

• Officials from the Road Safety Authority, An Garda Síochána, the National Transport Authority, and three separate sections of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (Sustainable Transport, Road Safety and Tourism)
• International
  • Engaging through the European Cyclists’ Federation on EU level processes related to mobility and road safety. https://ecf.com/ 
  • Participation in a (3 year long) Erasmus+ project on Sustainable Mobility along with partners from Spain, Denmark and Lithuania –  https://cyclist.ie/2019/04/cyclist-ie-in-erasmus-at-corella/.

• Participation of representatives from many of our member groups in the international Velo-city Cycling Planning Conference in Dublin https://www.dublincycling.com/vc19/dublin-cycling-campaign-and-friends-were-speaking-velo-city-dublin-2019 
  

• Organisational Achievements / work
  • Growth of the Cyclist.ie network to encompass 20 member groups
    • Including the new group of Carlow Cycling Campaign – https://cyclist.ie/2019/11/carlow-cycling-campaign-a-brand-new-cycling-advocacy-group/ 
  • Fundraising successes for the National Cycling Coordinator position 
  • Building stronger alliances with An Taisce and Cycling Ireland, and advancing campaigns collectively through our membership of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition
  • Hosting of two Council meetings for our members and eight Executive Committee meetings in 2019
    
    

2020 Highlights / Main Achievements (as of 01 Dec 2020)

• Major Campaigns
  • General Election 2020 and cycling
    • To put cycling on the agenda https://cyclist.ie/2020/10/cyclist-ie-10-asks-budget-2021/ 
    • To assess political parties’ manifestos https://cyclist.ie/2020/02/party-rankings-on-cycling-policies/  
    • To get cycling prioritised in the Programme for Government which we succeeded with, crucially in regard to funding. The PfG now includes the following text:
      
      “The Government will commit to an allocation of 10% of the total transport capital budget for cycling projects and an allocation of 10% of the total capital budget for pedestrian infrastructure. The Government’s commitment to cycling and pedestrian projects will be set at 20% of the 2020 capital budget (€360 million) per year for the lifetime of the Government.”
      (page 13 of https://drive.google.com/file/d/12TNmlz1a4B56dI31zyixzRT493Cv7sgl/view) 

• To change our streets in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic https://cyclist.ie/2020/04/coronavirus-change-our-streets-make-safer-streets-for-all/ 
  • Get to School on Your Own Fuel (Aug / Sept)
    • https://cyclist.ie/2020/08/get-to-school-on-your-own-fuel/ 
    • https://cyclist.ie/2020/09/get-to-school-media-coverage/
      
      

• On the development of a Vision for Cycling in Rural Ireland https://cyclist.ie/2020/11/a-vision-for-cycling-in-rural-ireland/, which was officially launched by Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, on 23 Sept 2020.   
  • Bus Connects Projects in Dublin & Galway. Linking in both groups to engage with Designers.  16 routes in Dublin and two in Galway. 
  • Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy
    • Working with Limerick Campaign to highlight the lack of vision and other inadequacies with the strategy. https://cyclist.ie/2020/10/lsmats-submission/ 
• 30+ submissions drafted and delivered to government departments, agencies and local authorities on a wide variety of topics – for example on:
  • The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport’s Sustainable Mobility Plan – https://cyclist.ie/2020/03/cyclist-ie-submissions-on-new-sustainable-mobility-policy/ 
  • Pre-Budget Submission 2021 – https://cyclist.ie/2020/09/pre-budget-2021-submission/ 
  • The RSA’s new Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 https://cyclist.ie/2020/11/rsa-road-safety-strategy-2021-2030-submission/
• Meetings with Government Departments and Agencies. 
  • These continued online during Covid, including in particular:
    • Meeting with Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, and staff/adviser
    • Meeting with RSA’s new CEO, Sam Waide
    • Meeting with NTA (Michael Ahearne)
• International 
  • Engaging through the European Cyclists’ Federation on EU level processes related to mobility and road safety. https://ecf.com/. 
    • One of the major successful campaigns in 2020 related to the carriage of bikes on trains – see https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/breakthrough-all-new-and-refurbished-trains-eu-offer-dedicated-spaces-four 
      
      
      
      
• Organisational Achievements / Developments
  • Growth of the Cyclist.ie network to encompass to 26 Groups https://cyclist.ie/map/
    • Including the very active new group of Navan Cycling Initiative https://cyclist.ie/2020/06/navan-cycling-initiative-a-brand-new-campaign-group/ 
• And a revival / re-energising of the Waterford Cycling Campaign / Bicycle User Group https://cyclist.ie/2020/11/latest-news-waterford-bug/ 
  • Fundraising for the National Cycling Coordinator position, including:
    • https://cyclist.ie/2020/10/rethink-ireland-fund-success-for-cyclist-ie/ 

• https://cyclist.ie/2020/10/an-taisce-cyclist-ie-ncc-fund/ 
  • Building stronger alliances with An Taisce and Cycling Ireland, and advancing campaigns collectively through our membership of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition

• Development of a new 5 year strategy for Cyclist.ie supported by professional input and facilitation by Sandra Velthuis from Whitebarn Consulting. Strategy to be adopted on 12 Dec 2020. 
  • Hosting of two Council meetings for our members (plus an additional two special Council meetings regarding our new strategic plan) and eight Executive Committee meetings in 2020.