One of the newest member groups of Cyclist.ie is Portarlington Cycling Campaign based in the midlands town on the Laois – Offaly border. We were delighted to do a little interview with the group’s coordinator, John Holland, to find out about what the group’s priorities are. The article below includes some photos taken at events organised by the group in 2022 – monthly Critical Mass cycle events and a ‘Tour De Port’ cycle as part of the French festival in the ‘Solas’ Eco Garden Centre in July last year.
Can you tell us a bit about Portarlington Cycling Campaign – why / how / when did it come into being? The Portarlington Cycling Campaign was born out of the Portarlington Business Association (PBA) Sustainability group which has been advocating for improved active travel and sustainable transport in Portarlington since the group was formed in 2020. The PBA Sustainability Group has made several submissions to Laois and Offaly County Councils (a portion of Portarlington being in Offaly) regarding improved walking and cycling infrastructure as well as traffic calming measures which we would like to see in the town. We have also made strong connections with both councils (with quarterly meetings between all parties) to get updates on sustainable transport plans and to provide feedback and guidance on how these plans can be improved for the safety of vulnerable road users and with the aim of maximizing active travel within the town. The group has also run events such as the Portarlington Critical Mass cycling event, which commenced on a monthly basis in 2022. This has been a great success at getting cyclists of all ages to come out for a safe, gentle cycle around the town centre, and in advocating for safe cycling for all ages and abilities.
We decided as a group in 2022 to formalize the work we’ve been doing on active travel by setting up with Portarlington Cycling Campaign. This has enabled us to more directly promote cycling as a means of replacing motor vehicle use and to avail of the expertise of Cyclist.ie and other campaign groups around the country.
What are the big issues, as you see them, in Portarlington (and in neighbouring towns perhaps) by way of creating a cycle friendly culture / making everyday cycling safe and normal? Portarlington is very much like other similar sized towns throughout Ireland – it is choked with cars! However, a key advantage within Portarlington is that it is relatively flat, there is the beginnings of a cycle network (with plans by Laois County Council to implement a much more extensive network), most roads are wide enough to support safe cycling, and a link road around the town centre provides an opportunity for a traffic calmed or (ideally) a pedestrianised Main Street. We see every day the impact that car culture has on the way people interact (or not) with the town. Most children are dropped to and from school despite the primary schools being centrally placed and within walking/cycling distance of the majority of residents of the town. There is widespread illegal parking on footpaths and cycle lanes.
Additionally, there is also a large volume of HGVs travelling through the town making it unsafe for most people to consider cycling as a means of getting around. We want our children to be able to enjoy their town without being confined to a tiny cordon of safe, car-free areas such as the playground or the GAA pitch. We want to live in a safe and vibrant town, with strong social cohesion, a people-friendly central core and a safe, segregated cycle network which provides real alternatives to the motor vehicle.
Is there any particular type of support that your group would appreciate from Cyclist.ie and from our advocates countrywide? The group are regularly liaising with Laois and Offaly county councils on plans for a cycle network in the town. These plans are currently with the NTA (National Transport Authority) for approval. We would appreciate the support of Cyclist.ie in advising on these plans – e.g. areas where they could be improved and how best to engage with the local community on public consultations.
Have you or other members of your group cycled in or visited other countries which have given you inspiration for Portarlington? Members of our group have witnessed first-hand what impact properly planned, safe, segregated cycling can have on the number and diversity of cyclists that will use such infrastructure. We have seen this in places such as The Netherlands, France and Belgium, and this has fed our determination to advocate for similar high quality infrastructure here. If it can be done there, it can be done here!
We totally agree John! Anything else you want to add? We see walking and cycling advocacy as a means of moving the dial significantly towards a sustainable town. More people getting around on their own steam means fewer cars on the roads, and that in turn means a safer environment for everyone, stronger social networks as people reconnect on safer streets, healthier outcomes and more independence for our children, and a healthy and vibrant core of businesses in our town centre. We have seen evidence of this throughout Europe so we know the benefits of more active travel…we just need to embrace the change that is necessary for our and for our children’s sake.
Cyclist.ie wishes Portarlington Cycling Campaign the very best with its campaigning and we look forward to meeting up with the local campaigners in person in 2023!
Cyclist.ie is delighted to hear of the ambitious news on cycling (as below) from Brussels. Cyclist.ie is the member for Ireland of the European Cyclists’ Federation and an active player on the European stage through the ECF.
Today, at the Cycling Industries Europe Summit, European Commission Executive-Vice President Frans Timmermans, announced that the EU institutions will complete an ambitious cycling plan this year, including commitments to increase funding for infrastructure and industrial growth. This follows a resolution passed by the European Parliament in February which called on the Commission and Member States to take actions to double cycling in the EU.
In front of a packed house of industry leaders in Brussels, Timmermans was joined by MEP Karima Delli and Belgian Transport Minister Georges Gilkinet representing the Parliament and Member States. Both confirmed that the proposed Cycling Declaration will be inter-institutional, representing the EU’s highest level of political commitment for cycling.
Saying that Europe must have a role in supporting cycling, Timmermans announced the declaration saying: “I am announcing an initiative to boost the bike in Europe. The Commission will propose a European Cycling Declaration and invite the Parliament and Council to join and make this an interinstitutional agreement. We will include principles for supporting cycling, along with access to tools and funds. This will ensure our citizens will not only have the right to cycle on paper, but access to support. European instruments must be used to double cycling in Europe!”
Timmermans also welcomed the adoption of the recent European Parliament resolution on developing a European Cycling Strategy, calling it a “huge democratic mandate for cycling”, making his job in the European Commission easier. With momentum for more European support for cycling building, he said that now is the right time for a Declaration, saying that this “is the way”.
Tony Grimaldi, President of CIE responded positively to the announcements, thanking Timmermans, Delli and Gilkinet for their leadership on the Declaration, especially Karima Delli for the strong collaboration with the European cycling associations that created ambitious targets for the cycling plan, doubling the level of cycling in Europe and creating one million new, green cycling jobs.
Speaking to the attendees, Grimaldi said: “Today we are proud that the three EU institutions are coming together at the CIE Summit to announce their latest plans for an EU Cycling Declaration. The CIE Summit has become an essential milestone for all our cycling stakeholders to come together and share what we can do for Europe.”
He continued: “However, today is not the day to say “job done”, today is when we take the next steps. The Commission must now produce a final EU Cycling Declaration that takes concrete actions to deliver these goals, and we in the cycling industry will show again that we are the greenest, smartest, most reliable partners in the European Mobility Ecosystem.”
Jill Warren, CEO of the European Cyclists’ Federation said: “ECF welcomes today’s announcement that the Commission will act on the Parliament’s resolution and elevate cycling to a strategic priority. As part of this, more funding for high quality, safe cycling infrastructure will be key to doubling cycling levels in Europe.”
In the detailed announcement for the EU Cycling Declaration, Frans Timmermans said that the Commission will produce a vision for cycling by the summer, supported by detailed proposals on the actions to be taken to deliver the plans. This must include funding for infrastructure, a review of regulations and support for cycling industries in the EU’s industrial strategies. It is expected that the Parliament and European Council of Member States will complete their review of the plan by the end of 2023.
Drogheda Cycling, a member group of Cyclist.ie, had developed innovative proposals to improve the liveability and cycle friendliness of the Dublin Road area in Drogheda.
Following on from the launch of their proposals which called for the redesign of Drogheda’s dual carriageway to favour active travel options and public transport space, the group has launched an online petition calling for the speedy implementation of these proposals.
In explaining the proposals, Chairperson Noel Hogan said that “all across Europe towns like Drogheda are embracing active travel – and seeing the benefits in terms of a healthier population and – most importantly – quicker travel times. Children in other countries are being given back the freedom to cycle which, because of traffic congestion, has been denied to the children of Drogheda.”
He stressed that his group are committed to playing their part to make Drogheda a safer, healthier town for everyone, and to that end they are are calling for people to support our online petition which can be found at:
Clara Clark from Cycling Without Age has sent us this report on the recent launch of the Línte na Farraige installation in Blackrock, County Dublin. This launch follows an equivalent launch at the Spanish Arch in Galway in December 2022.
Línte na Farraige is a series of LED light installations across Irish coastal sites that represent the impact of future sea level rise and storm surges. This installation at the Martello Tower in Blackrock Park Co. Dublin was launched on 21st February 2023.
This postcard image is the calculated sea level in the year 2100, at normal (not surge) height. Surges and easterly winds will drive wave heights to multiples of this height.
Speakers at the launch included DLR Cathaoirleach Mary Hanafin, Minister Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Deputy Leader of the Green Party, DLR Council CEO Frank Curran, and Finnish Ambassador to Ireland Ms Raili Lahnalampi. Ms. Lahnalampi is a keen and regular cyclist, who arrived on her bike!
Minister Catherine Martin speaking at the launch on 21 Feb 2023. The lit LED line on the tower is the sea level normal height by the year 2100.
This installation was designed by a Finnish design group. Attendees included a team from CARO, the The Dublin Metropolitan Climate Action Regional Office (CARO) which supports and coordinates climate action undertaken by the four Local Authorities of South Dublin, Fingal, Dun Laoghaire‐Rathdown, Dublin City Council (DCC). DCC is the lead authority in the region. Dublin CARO is based in the Civic Offices.
This CARO project is headed by David Dodd. The scientists are from Maynooth University and emeritus Professor of Geography John Sweeney attended. Their work is guided by the work of the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (see https://www.ipcc.ch/).
These art / science installations are designed to create awareness of the impending sea level rise from now on. By 2050 the level will be up by 0.4m on today’s level. Solar-powered, the LED light lights up at dusk. The cycle path and walkway through Blackrock Park is busy all day and evening, as commuters pass by the tower. This should imprint on people the impact of climate change and our need to do something about it.
More details are on this signboard beside the tower:
If you want to imagine just how significant the sea level rise will be for this small child in his lifetime, this picture tells its own story (the DART line is in the background).
Extraordinary General Meeting, Wed 19 April 2023** at 8.00pm
Online consultation on how the unified organisation will function, Sat 11 March 2023, 2.00 pm-5.00 pm
After many months / years of discussions, consultations, drafting, expert advice etc., we are finally ready for an EGM to decide on the future of the organisation. Our draft Constitution is ready to be voted on by members* at our online EGM on Wed 19 April** at 8.00 pm. Also on the agenda for the EGM is the decision on a new name. Formal notification will be issued to all members shortly, but in the meantime please save the date.
In advance of the EGM, there will be an online meeting on Sat 11 March from 2pm to 5pm. The purpose of this meeting is to explore how the unified organisation will function day-to-day. An Operations Manual has being drafted which contains proposed details of how the new organisation will function. It’s important that as many members as possible take the opportunity to contribute so that the Operations Manual is as comprehensive as possible and that it meets the needs of the organisation going forward.
The Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042 was published late last month (January 2023) by the National Transport Authority. The Strategy aims to expand and integrate public transport modes, as well as cycling and walking, in all four Dublin local authority areas and in the surrounding built-up areas of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.
From the point of view of Cyclist.ie this is a critical document. Cycling’s role in transport depends on integration with other modes, and protection for us on our roads and streets. Safe cycling depends on policies like those contained in this Strategy, and in legislation like the Planning Acts, Roads Acts and traffic law.
Very broadly, the Strategy supports the expansion of DART, Luas and BusConnects, together with continued reductions in reliance on private car traffic (from 57.7% to 48.6%). The authors claim it will lead to a reduction in carbon emissions from transport in the GDA from 3.2 Megatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2018 down to about one tonne by 2042. Cycling’s share of trips is planned to increase from 3.2% to 11.5%.
Those ambitions are critical in reclaiming our road space for cycling, walking and wheeling, turning back the tide of car dependency and danger that has benighted Dublin’s roads for decades. A joined-up, frequent, easy-to-use public transport system is really important for people using bikes because it allows for safer roads, as well as ‘inter-modal’ travel like taking your bike on DART, or getting Luas and then hopping on a Bleeper bike for the last km of your journey.
Covering the period up to 2042, the Strategy has a reported budget of €25bn. It seeks to build out the MetroLink rail line including a north-south tunnel for heavy rail across the city. However it shelves the DART Underground tunnel plan. While we would claim no expertise in rail planning, we note with concern the call by Dublin Commuter Coalition to review projections for usage of DART Underground and its delivery timescales. Cyclist.ie did make a response to the recent Consultation Paper on the On Island Strategic Rail Review, particularly with regard to inter-modal travel, and is calling for a meeting with the NTA to further discuss cycling and train use.
Back to issues more closely related to cycling, the GDA Strategy supports the National Transport Authority’s Cycle Network Plan for Dublin, which has been on paper in various forms for over three decades now and is being built out much more rapidly since the Covid pandemic. Cyclist.ie generally supports the Network Plan. Both interim and permanent schemes in the Plan are being built, and much of the permanent network is integrated with BusConnects Core Bus Corridors (we’re studying those designs and making submissions covering each Corridor). Of interim schemes, the patchy Liffey Cycle Route and the highly-acclaimed Coastal Mobility Route in Dun Laoghaire are telling examples of their variable quality.
The Strategy was initially released for public consultation in November 2021, and we made a submission on that in Jan 2022 (which we posted here). We felt the target to increase cycling’s share of trips to 12% was unambitious: Cycling can do much more of the heavy lifting for transport in Dublin than 12%. On a larger scale, we called then for the Strategy to address this country’s dire record on planning delays, but the final version fails to really tackle this issue. Another national issue we highlighted is upgrading the Common Appraisal Framework. This Framework is used to assess the benefits versus costs of transport projects prior to funding by Government, and needs to be revised to take proper account of the benefits of promoting active travel; it’s too heavily weighted towards saving motorists’ time currently. The final GDA Strategy misses an opportunity to make a strong case for improvements here. We were also a bit disappointed to see little change since the Draft Strategy around the gathering and sharing of travel data, and RSA road safety data. We were saddened that there’s no aim in the Strategy to work towards a default 30 km/h speed limit for all urban areas in the GDA, or meaningfully addressing the needs of children who are disproportionately affected by our current, highly car-dependent, environment.
However, overall, it can’t be denied that the Strategy offers a vast improvement in joined-up, long-term thinking and does seek to assist Dublin’s development into a more liveable, sustainable region.
That’s a very brief, broad outline. Do have a look for yourself and let us know your thoughts; the Strategy: is viewable here.
The Limerick Greenway (Great Southern Trail) is a unique 85km stretch of countryside in West Limerick / North Kerry. It is the route taken by the Limerick – Tralee railway line, which opened in 1867/1880 and closed in 1975/1977.
The Great Southern Trail (GST) group is an active member group of Cyclist.ie – and it has been campaigning on the ground for many years for the creation of a high quality greenway along this corridor.
Cyclist.ie was delighted to receive the “Great Southern Trail 10 Year Video Report, 2013 to 2023” earlier today (14 February 2023).
The report includes footage of the GST “Barricaded Walk” from February 2013, of the (then) Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar opening the Abbeyfeale to the Kerry Border section (also in February 2013), the opening of the Barnagh Tunnel in 2021, and the opening of the Limerick Border to Listowel section in October 2022.
The video also outlines the route of the remaining trail – the railway route from Listowel to Tralee (to link with the newly opened Tralee to Fenit Greenway). The video and photos were produced by Mike Guerin in Feb 2023. Overall, the film gives a sense of battles fought and advocacy work advanced by the GST team as they engaged with many Ministers, Councillors and other stakeholders over the last 10 years…. not to mention the 25 years of campaigning before 2013!
The video can be watched here:
Cyclist.ie congratulates Liam O’Mahony, Mike Guerin and all of the campaigners from the GST route for their ongoing work in campaigning for the completion of the greenway.
Cyclist.ie welcomes the continuing high level investment in Active Travel projects and personnel from the present government. These investments are critical in helping Ireland to match its Climate Action Plan ambitions. The most recent announcement on 1st February 2023 allocated funding of €290 million nationwide for 2023 and sees a wide array of projects being funded. These range from small footpath schemes to full blown urban greenways and bus corridors. The allocation of this National Transport Authority (NTA) funding recognises the breadth of work that needs to be done to begin to increase cycling and walking, and reduce the use of the private car in our society.
Funding allocations range from a high of nearly €60 million for Dublin City down to several million Euro for some of the less populous local authorities. The four Dublin local authorities together account for nearly 43% of the allocated funding.
A sketch of a section of the Fairview to Amiens Street scheme in the Dublin City Council area
In this article, we provide feedback from some of our own member groups in the Cyclist.ie network on allocations for particular counties / local authority areas. Our contributors have highlighted where spend seems appropriate and is to be lauded, but they also have concerns on the spend on some more questionable schemes (particularly road resurfacing projects).
Limerick Limerick Cycling Campaign warmly welcomes the allocation of €21m in funding for Limerick as part of the NTA funding allocation of €290m for walking and cycling projects in 2023.
It will see delivery of large primary routes such as the TUS (Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest) to City Centre and Hyde Road schemes in this calendar year as well as a number of key secondary routes in all three metropolitan wards. Progress on Active Travel measures on the Dublin Road are particularly welcome. It’s currently a very hostile road for those who walk or cycle and is a significant barrier to modal shift for those residents and UL students living in the area.
There has been a significant increase in rural funding including a fund of nearly €5m for active travel improvements in rural towns and villages as well as an expansion of the Safe Routes to School Schemes for many primary and secondary schools in the city.
One slight concern is the low funding amount attached to the Pathfinder project from Park Canal to Clare St. We would hope that we would see a significant increase to this essential project in 2024 as plans progress.
While it’s encouraging to see the Ballycummin area of Limerick City West included, we would hope to see progress to deliver the full orbital route around the Ballycummin / Church Hill Meadows area and the inclusion of the main Church Hill Meadows Road and the remaining small stretch of Dooradoyle Rd as soon as possible. With excellent projects on Fr. Russell Road and the Quinns Cross route being delivered in 2023, these will be the natural next steps to connect the largest estates in Limerick City West to the rest of the network.
Overall the funding shows the work that Limerick’s Active Travel Team, supported by the larger council and our elected reps, is advancing is gathering significant steam. We would call on all Limerick stakeholders to see the huge opportunities that this funding presents for Limerick as we move to a transport system that supports our climate responsibilities, our health and well-being and a more sustainable way of moving around our city.
Meath Meath’s allocation of €14,135,000 is very welcome and, outside of the four Dublin local authorities, Cork and Limerick, is the highest allocation to a county from this year’s funding. The allocation is spread across 38 different projects, and in total almost half of the total funding (€7m) is for schemes in Navan.
The majority of the funding for cycling infrastructure in Navan is for ongoing schemes which are already in various states of planning, such as the Trim Road Cycle Scheme, the R147 Kells Road Scheme and the R147 Martha’s Bridge to Circular Road Scheme. One notable addition is the inclusion of the Pathfinder Project, on the R161 Navan to Trim road.
Of the €7m funding for Navan, €3m is for the ongoing Navan 2030 works at Kennedy Plaza, which unfortunately do not contain any plans for cycling. €1m is allocated for the new LDR4 bridge from the Kells Road to Ratholdren Road. While this new bridge and road will incorporate active travel infrastructure, it is well documented that new roads only serve to further embed car dependency, a phenomenon known as induced-demand. It is unclear how this project can be awarded funding under active travel.
We feel that active travel funding should have been secured for this area of the town to facilitate the installation of cycle lanes along the Ratholdren Road. We have been advocating for safe cycling infrastructure along this road since last May. There are two schools at either end of the road, a leisure centre, the town’s only park and the trailhead for the soon to be opened Boyne Valley to Lakelands County Greenway. We are very disappointed about the lack of progress as Navan’s residents are denied safe cycling access to the host of amenities mentioned above. The new greenway is highly anticipated and we are very concerned for the safety of children and other vulnerable road users, either trying to access Navan town centre if coming from Kilberry/Wilkinstown/Nobber or Navan residents trying to access the greenway from the town. This existing problem will only get worse as demand for greenways around the country has proven to be exceptionally high. We cannot wait years for the completion of the LDR4.
Sligo Spokesperson for Sligo Cycling Campaign Joan Swift said the Campaign very much welcomed the €3m Active Travel allocation for Sligo and is particularly pleased with the Safe Routes to School funding for Scoil Ursula, St John’s, Strandhill and Enniscrone. Giving children and parents the freedom to get to school on their own fuel is key to unlocking the health and well- being benefits of active travel.
Sligo Cycling Campaign is also pleased that funding has been secured to commence the Pathfinder schemes, Carraroe to town centre and town centre to the ATU (Atlantic Technological University). The Campaign will be looking for clarification on some schemes which merely say “Active Travel” as it’s unclear what this means in practice. We very much welcome the proposed footpath scheme from the station in Collooney, but we are concerned for example that in a social media post Councillor Thomas Walsh included road resurfacing as well as footpath enhancement and junction tightening in his description of the Collooney schemes. Road resurfacing, while necessary in our view, should come from the roads maintenance budget and not the Active Travel allocation. The footpath from Collooney to Ballisodare also appears to be already well advanced, so again we will be asking for clarification in regard to the purpose of the €550,000 allocation for this scheme. A further concern we have is why a parklet costing €70,000 is included under Active Travel.
Clare We note the allocation of €4.5m for County Clare and more than 50% of this is allocated to Ennis town and surrounds. €400,000 is allocated to Active Travel Team staff costs. €1.2m is allocated to footpaths in towns and villages.
Almost €6m was allocated to Active Travel in Clare in 2021. Many of the proposed schemes in 2023 seem to be very similar to those that were proposed in 2021. There is not enough evidence that the schemes proposed in 2021 have actually been completed. We would like some clarification on what was spent from the 2021 allocation and on what exactly, and how these schemes differ from what is being proposed in 2023.
There has been virtually no funding allocated to cycling infrastructure in this round. Some such infrastructure was implemented in Ennis from the 2021 funding.
No funding at all seems to be allocated to active travel in rural areas, or visitor attractions and sites. There is very little in North and West Clare, except for small amounts in Lisdoonvarna and Miltown Malbay / Spanish Point for footpaths and pedestrian crossings.
For example, there is a section of cycling / walking path between Lahinch and Liscannor which was started a number of years ago, and it remains unfinished and dangerous to walk or cycle on. This is not included in the current allocations, but needs to be remediated at the very least.
Many of the Active Travel Schemes have very limited funding allocation, apart from one on the Tulla Road in Ennis which has been allocated almost €1.8m (40% of the total budget). There is also no detail on what any of the Active Travel schemes will actually include, so we would like clarification on this and exactly what these schemes include and hope to achieve.
South Dublin County The South Dublin Sub-group (of Dublin Cycling Campaign) welcomes the allocations in the Active Travel Investment Programme 2023 which advance the Cycle South Dublin Programme. We are especially pleased to see all the unfinished sections of the Dodder Greenway included in the Programme as well as major investment in the Wellington Lane Cycling and Walking Scheme, the Castletymon District Enhancement Programme, D24 Neighbourhood Cycle Network, Killinarden Park and Greenway Scheme, Active Travel for Clonburris and the Grand Canal to Lucan Urban Greenway. We are pleased also that some funding has been allocated under the 2023 Greenway Programme for the Grand Canal 12th Lock (Lucan) to Hazelhatch scheme but disappointed that the allocation is not adequate for completion of the scheme in 2023.
Conclusion Cyclist.ie welcomes the investments in Active Travel projects countrywide. However, we stress here the need for spending to go on those schemes which form important elements of local cycle networks and which connect to important destinations such as schools, colleges, town centres and greenways. We do not support AT funding being spent on motor traffic / road capacity expanding schemes with minor ‘tag-ons’ of cycling infrastructure or on road resurfacing projects. We will be following up with the NTA and with the local authorities in due course in regard to these.
For more information on the Active Travel Grants Programme delivered by the Active Travel Investment Section of the NTA, see here.
Hats off to University College Cork, Cork Cycling Campaign and the Cork Environmental Forum for devising and running the wonderful Socio-Cycle: Cycling Symposium last Friday and Saturday (03 & 04 Feb 2023)! It was just what the doctor ordered after almost three years of mainly non in-person cycling advocacy (and academic) gatherings in Ireland.
The lead organiser was Dr. Eileen Hogan from the School of Applied Social Studies in UCC, and her team packed quite an amount into the symposium which lasted a day and a half – with formal sessions taking place in Cork City Hall and in the gorgeous Hub building in UCC.
Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in a special #IBIKEBop on the streets of Cork (see video below), and then catch up more informally for food and drinks afterwards.
Fun time at the social cycle and delicious bites at Marina Market after day 1 of UCC Socio-Cycle symposium! 🎶🚲💃🍽️
Cyclist.ie was out in force with over a dozen active members of our network giving papers and talks – and with many more attending as delegates and contributing to the discussions.
Friday
The keynote lecture in City Hall was delivered by Dr. Meredith Glaser (pictured below) from Urban Cycling Institute, University of Amsterdam. She gave a wide ranging presentation on the multi-pronged and multi-dimensional processes associated with demotorising and rehumanising our cities, based both on her studies and her lived experiences of Dutch cities. Her descriptions of the people filled – rather than motor vehicle filled – streets in Amsterdam near the school she lived beside reminded us all of why we are doing what we are doing! Plenty of food for thought in her talk which was followed by a long and lively Q&A.
Dr. Meredith Glaser (Photo credit – Will Andrews)
Meredith’s talk was followed by a Policy Fishbowl, which the organisers described as “an interactive discussion informed by participants’ cycling experiences”. It was a really great format in which a brief pitch on a cycling topic was followed by rapid fire contributions, with delegates swapping between the main audience and a revolving panel – and all happening with the prominent count-down clock keeping us in check! We will be robbing this format for a future event in Cyclist.ie, we are sure!
The topics and questions explored in the fishbowl were: – firstly, how can we harness public consultation to deliver the best possible solution? – secondly, should cycle training be made mandatory in schools? – thirdly, how do we ensure that future governments preserve the 20% allocation for walking and cycling from the transport capital budget?
On the point of cycle training, Cyclist.ie maintains that we need curricular reform at primary level to mandate it in the same way as we have for swimming.
Deep in discussion in the policy fishbowl while carefully overlooked by Eileen and Meredith! (Photo credit – Will Andrews)
Saturday
The sessions in UCC on Saturday ran from 9am until 4.30pm with a wonderfully diverse array of topics covered from multiple disciplinary perspectives. We highlight here the contributions of some members of Cyclist.ie.
Mairéad Forsythe, Chair of the Board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG / Cyclist.ie (pictured below – and in blue in the policy fishbowl above!), explored the topic of lower speed limits in urban areas and their role in increasing the numbers of people cycling. She highlighted just some of the work that the Love 30 group has spearheaded in recent years, and brought us up to speed on where the campaign is to make 30km/h the default speed limit in built-up areas.
Mairéad Forsythe from Love 30 (Photo Credit – TBC)
Meanwhile, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, National Cycling Coordinator with Cyclist.ie and An Taisce, explored the topic of where cycling advocates’ energies should best be targeted in the coming years. He stressed the need for us to focus on capacity building, and on fundraising in particular, so that Cyclist.ie can grow into a much stronger outfit and better leverage the amazing volunteering energies and skills of our network of members. This is what our counterparts on the Continent have done in recent years.
Damien Ó Tuama showing the extent of Cyclist.ie’s growing network of groups (Photo credit – Siobhán McNamara)
Jo Sachs Eldridge from the Cyclist.ie Executive Committee / Leitrim Cycling Festival gave two talks on Saturday. The first, drawing on the ‘Emergent Strategy’ ideas of Adrienne Maree Brown, examined the topic of how can pro-cycling activism become more impactful; while at the end of day – in a packed plenary session! – Jo spoke about the “Cycology of Change”. Both talks whetted our appetites and we look forward to debating the points and questions she raised in another forum very soon!
Jo Sachs Eldridge from Leitrim Cycling Festival / Cyclist.ie – (Photo Credit TBC)
Clara Clark from Cycling Without Age spoke about “Cycling Without Age: The Right to Wind in your Hair”. The key point was the exponential growth of the take-up for trishaws nationwide (60 to date, with more on order), and the benefits to passengers. Many of the recent trishaw sponsors are local authorities placing them for community-based use. This demands better safe cycling infrastructure to accommodate all types of non-standard cycles: Infrastructure = Accessibility. There needs to be greater liaison with the LA Active Travel officers to ensure this will happen.
Clara Clark from Cycling Without Age (Photo Credit – Dr. Eileen Hogan)
It is well worth watching this “Inclusive Bike Scheme – Coastal Mobility Route” video produced by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council if you haven’t already seen it. It shows the inclusive nature of high quality cycling infrastructure, especially when used in combination with the CWA trishaws.
Rebecca Wogan from Dublin Cycling Campaign’s Executive Committee spoke about her own research, which covered “Crowdsourced Cycling Data Applications to Estimate Noise Pollution Exposure during Urban Cycling”. This followed on from her recent presentation to a Dublin Cycling Campaign public meeting.
Conor Buckley, Chair of Limerick Cycling Campaign, spoke about successfully campaigning to get targets included in the final / published version of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (LSMATS) and the importance of unifying these targets in transport strategies across the country. He also discussed the importance of independently monitoring and reporting on targets to measure the return on the significant investment currently being made on infrastructure. In short, it is not enough just to make sure funding is spent!
Conor Buckley from Limerick Cycling Campaign (Photo Credit – Maria O’Dwyer )
The above overview just scrapes the surface of what was delved into (mainly by Cyclist.ie speakers) at what was a top class conference. It was a pleasure to hear so many informative talks from academics and campaigners based in Ireland, all of whom are thinking seriously about low carbon mobility. Additionally though, there were two excellent speakers tuned in from afar, with the technology bringing them right into the room and allowing for quality conversations and Q&A.
Firstly, Professor Peter Cox – now based in the Rachel Carson Institute near Munich and well known in cycling academic circles – gave a keynote address entitled “Care, Commons, and Uncontrollability: Developing Habits for Anthropocene Citizenship”. His talk engaged with a number of concepts linked to the destructive ways of 20th century modernism (the results of which are covered in the IPCC 6th Assessment Report), how the system of automobility colonises travel spaces and encloses “the commons of road space”, and how we notice the world more when on a bicycle. A lot of food for thought in his paper. We look forward very much to the publication of his book on this topic so we can dig into his ideas properly!
Secondly, Dr. Léa Ravensbergen, Assistant Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University in Toronto, spoke about “Fostering Equitable Cycling Cities: Considering Gender and Cycling Through a Mobility Justice Framework”. She explored some of the main hypotheses which seek to explain the gender gap in everyday cycling, before unpacking the important concept of mobility justice. It was another thought provoking session, which generated many questions from the delegates.
Dr. Léa Ravensbergen speaking live from Toronto (with the view of the north bank of the Lee in the background. (Photo credit – Damien Ó Tuama)
Both of these talks added greatly to the symposium.
Finally!
As well as talks, there were videos played including a lovely one from Cork Cycling Festival shown in a packed Shtepps Theatre.
Attendees in the lovely Shtepps Theatre tuned into watching short video on the Cork Cycling Festival
There was so much else that stimulated us at the UCC conference, that we will be thinking about the topics over the coming weeks and months and beyond. We might even post another article on the symposium quite soon, pointing to some of the other fine speakers and presentations that we heard. It’s simply not possible to do them all justice in this short article here!
Cyclist.ie sends its hearty congratulations to all of the organisers and contributors. We look forward to meeting them again soon and to continuing the conversations.
The organising team [l to r]: Conn Donovan (CCycC), Dr. Dean Venables (CCycC), Bernie Connolly (Cork Env Forum), Dr. Eileen Hogan (UCC)
As we launch ourselves into another year’s campaigning, we have taken some time to reflect on the breadth and depth of advocacy work that Cyclist.ie carried out last year.
In this article, we look back on 2022 through the frame of our 2021-26 Cyclist.ie Strategy (with our six strategic aims shown below) and consider how much progress we have made. In particular, we highlight where Cyclist.ie and its member groups are making a real impact on the mobility culture of Ireland. Note, however, that this article only scrapes the surface of all of the incredible work conducted by our network of volunteers for which we are very grateful. We are happy to receive feedback on this article, either in the comments below or else by contacting our National Cycling Coordinator directly.
Aim #1 – Developing a vibrant and resilient all-island cycling advocacy community (p6 here) The nurturing of a vibrant campaigning community is a central aim for Cyclist.ie. Without new members coming on board, feeling welcome, getting active and collaborating with others in an organized way, it is difficult for our advocacy work to make the impact we are seeking. Thankfully, Cyclist.ie has been led by a super committed Executive Committee of 12 persons (see here) over the last year. It met 11 times in 2022 (almost every month!) and organised two well attended online Council meetings for our group and individual members. While the online meetings worked very well, we are all looking forward to meeting up in person in 2023.
In spite of the pandemic and the difficulty of meeting up in person, Cyclist.ie’s network of member groups grew to 35 groups as we reported at the end of 2022. That was three more than the previous year, and five times the size of our initial seven member network when Cyclist.ie was founded in 2008 (see here for the original detailed submission we made to the Department of Transport in Oct 2008). Our total number of paying members of the network remained at over 1000, with the bulk of these as individual members of Dublin Cycling Campaign.
One of the big organisational developments made during the year was the bedding in of our nine Action Groups, formed to help advance particular strands of work in Cyclist.ie. Our AGs, shown below, are each generally based around particular skill-sets (such as finance, IT, communications, people-skills around engaging with ‘the system’ of politicians or officials, engineering / planning, and research) plus advancing the rural cycling agenda (which itself involves a real mix of skills).
Cyclist.ie’s Nine Action Groups
In terms of organisational development on the Communications front, Cyclist.ie was delighted to receive the professional input of the Marketing Agency We the People in drafting a brand new Communications Strategy for us. This arose as part of a successful funding application to Rethink Ireland (see below). This support sets us up well for 2023, when we are looking to adopt a fresh approach to getting our message out and engaging in public debates. In addition to this, we posted over 35 original articles to the website, issued 12 action packed newsletters to our 2000+ subscribers, and made many postings to our social media platforms on our core campaigning topics. We comment further on our broader impacts on the public under Aim #2 below.
A crucial part of the development of the organisation in 2022 was the work advanced by the board of Cyclist.ie / Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG around our governance structures and developing a completely new Constitution and Operations Manual. The board met 9 times in 2022, and we are now nearing the end of our journey to arrive at a more fit-for-purpose and modern governance configuration for the organisation. The finalisation of this work will have many positive knock-on effects including ending up with a stronger organisation which is more attractive for members, staff and funders. Additionally, the regulation of our activities will be streamlined and risks better managed. All in all, we will be able to make a bigger impact on public policy and practice with our new arrangements in place.
Funding for Cyclist.ieand for the position of National Cycling Cycling Coordinator has remained a real challenge in 2022, as we set out in this article in November. The uncertainly over funding has been our Achilles’ heel as we seek to strengthen cycling advocacy and make a bigger impact. That said, we scored a great win in 2022 with a successful funding application to the European Commission as part of a consortium applying for Erasmus+ funding on a project entitled Generations Pedaling for Inclusion and Climate Action as set out in this article. Meanwhile our strategic partnership with An Taisce, initiated back in 2013, has continued successfully and it will shortly enter its 10th year. Additionally, we are very grateful to Cycling Ireland for their own support for the National Cycling Coordinator position, and we look forward to engaging with them regularly in 2023. We also acknowledge here the support of Lime in joining Dublin Cycling Campaign / Cyclist.ie as a Business Member – as per this article and the ongoing support of the Irish Heart Foundation.
In 2022, we forged stronger connections with other organisations through formal and informal coalitions. We remain active members of The Wheel, of Stop Climate Chaos and of the European Cyclists’ Federation – and we were delighted to have three Cyclist.ie representatives (Mary Sinnott, Colm Ryder and Damien Ó Tuama) attending ECF’s in-person AGM in Berlin in May as reported on here.
All in all, a lot of ‘behind-the-scenes’ work was advanced in 2022 to improve the organisational structure of Cyclist.ie, put it on a firmer footing and enable us to collectivise the massive energies and skills of our network so that we can make a significant impact on the transport culture.
Cyclist.ie was well represented at the AGM of the ECF in Berlin in 2022
Aim #2 – Influence the national conversation on mobility and quality of life (p7 here) Our work to change the conversations and discourses around mobility and quality of life take place on a daily basis.
This happens through our social media postings, newsletters and web articles, but crucially we articulate our low carbon vision of the future of mobility through regular contributions to TV and radio programmes and podcasts, and print and online media. Some of the major media appearances included:
Galway School Cycle Bus on What planet are you on?;
RTE’s Morning Ireland regarding the Athlone to Galway Greenway;
Public online meetings are another way in which we disseminate our messages, and Cyclist.ie / Dublin Cycling Campaign planned and ran many successful public meetings during 2022. Some of the more popular meetings with a national and international focus included:
Public Meeting on the Velo-city 2022 conference. See the recording here.
Public meeting on EuroVelo Route #1 held on 15 Nov. See recording here.
Finally, over the last year, we have been creating new partnerships and aligning ourselves publicly with events, projects, groups and individuals with overlapping values and other overarching ‘liveable communities’ priorities – such as with the Hospital Active Travel Awards above.
Aim #3 – Seek to ensure public policy embraces cycling (p8 here) Amongst the most important policy documents shaping what actually happens during a term of government are the Programme for Government and the National Development Plan – and then the annual budgets. Both the PfG and the NDP already include significant commitments for investing in cycling, and the annual allocations for the NTA and TII (and hence to Local Authorities) for cycling are unprecedentedly high. From a policy perspective, cycling is in a far better place than it has been for, perhaps, any other period in the history of the state – and Cyclist.ie has played an important role in this positive change. However, one of the major difficulties we are experiencing in 2022 has been the under-spending of those government allocations by local authorities. We revisit this point under Aim #5 below.
Cyclist was pleased to engage directly with Transport Infrastruture Ireland (TII) on the advancement of plans for the National Cycle Network, and the updating of the Rural Cycleway Guidance design document.We also welcomed the publication of the CycleConnects proposals by the National Transport Authority, and we made detailed submissions on both of these – on the NCN (in June) and on CycleConnects (in November).
Overall, Cyclist.ie made close to 100 written submissions to Local and National Authorities in regard to transport strategies and schemes, with further submissions made by local campaign groups. Our Consultations Action Group is now developing a new more user friendly consultation tracking system. Some further examples of major submissions made include:
Metrolink (by Dublin Cycling Campaign) to An Bord Pleanála – see here
Finally, at the end of 2022, the government published its Climate Action Plan 2023 on which Cyclist.ie provided its initial assessment in this web article. It is worth noting that the transport section of CAP23 was influenced strongly by the publication of the OECD’s Redesigning Ireland’s Transport for Net Zero report, as commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC). Back in April 2022, Cyclist.ie was invited by the CCAC to a two-day workshop which was held as part of the planning work underpinning the development of the report. Joan Swift (from Sligo Cycling Campaign) represented Cyclist.ie at it. Joan was subsequently invited onto the panel for the launch event of the OECD report. Cyclist.ie warmly welcomed the publication of this report as it argues strongly for transformative change in the mobilities space – not simply incremental changes or an excessive reliance on the electrification of the private motor vehicle fleet for the decarbonisation of the transport sector.
The OECD report which has helped to shape CAP23
Note that in 2022, Cyclist.ie met the Department of Transport (twice) on a variety of policy and practical issues, the National Transport Authority (three times – mainly in regard to the National Cycle Manual) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (twice – in regard to the National Cycle Network and the new Rural Cycleway Design Guidance).
And in regard to engaging with politicians, some of our main activities in 2022 included:
Parliamentary questions (PQs) submitted on several topics of concern to cycle campaigners.
Meetings with Labour, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit on the development of their new cycling / transport policies.
Engagements with all parties on retaining / making the best use of the 20% of transport budget allocated to active modes in all party cycling policies.
Aim #4 – Advocate for more effective institutions and new legislation (p9 here) Within this strategic aim, we have two related objectives:
4.1 We will encourage and seek to ensure that key figures in transportation and related fields are inspired and motivated by experiencing cycle friendly cultures first hand.
4.3 We will advocate for the key personnel in government departments and agencies to receive up-to-date training in cycling policy and provision.
We put a lot of work behind the scenes into disseminating widely information about the Velo-city conference, the largest cycling advocacy conference in the world, that took place in Ljubliana in Slovenia in 2022. We were delighted to see representation at VC by senior staff members of the Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and many of the Irish Local Authorities – as well as several members of our own groups. You can read detailed reports by our own team members here:
Another related strategic objective for us under this main aim is as follows:
4.2 We will advocate for institutional reform so that active travel is given priority and so that there is good coordination (‘horizontally’ and ‘vertically’) between government departments, agencies and local authorities.
Our advocacy work on this objective continued throughout 2022 – mainly through our meetings with officials and politicians and, for example, through inviting staff from state agencies to participate in our public meetings. See for example our meeting on EuroVelo#1 in which Doug Corrie from Sport Ireland spoke, as well as Florence Lessard, a cycling tourist from Quebec in Canada.
Finally, we pressed on in 2022 with work on following objective under this same aim:
4.4 We will advocate for road traffic legislative changes to improve cycling. We will advocate for more effective enforcement of appropriate legal sanctions against drivers of motorised vehicles who endanger the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. We will not support cyclists engaging in dangerous, reckless and inconsiderate behaviour.
Some of the main activities related to this was the work around advocating for 30km/h to become the default speed limit in built-up urban areas – including members from our Love 30 group speaking at the Road Safety Authority annual research conference. See here (and the picture below). Additionally, Cyclist.ie has been in regular contact with the RSA with a view to convening a meeting in early 2023. We continue to liaise with the Road Safety section of the Department of Transport on the updating and improvement of legislation in favour of active travel.
Mairéad Forsythe and Justin Fleming from Love 30 / Cyclist.ie speaking at the RSA Conference
Aim #5 – Seek to ensure there is ample funding spent on cycling (p10 here) As alluded to above, Cyclist.ie is very concerned about the under-spend of active travel allocations by local authorities. As reported in the Irish Times in August 2022, “more than half of the funding provided to rural local authorities last year [i.e. 2021] for active cycling and walking infrastructure was unspent”. Much of this underspend can be attributed to the lack of capacity at local authority level, while at the same time local authorities have been seeking to build up their staffing levels to meet the demands of funding allocations both in quantity and quality. We in Cyclist.ie will continue to monitor spending levels, but are hopeful that local authorities will improve their performance in this critical area. Note that the NTA’s 2022 Active Travel Investment Grant Allocations can be read here.
Participants at one of the Cargo Bike Championships held in the Phoenix Park (a few years ago)
In 2022, Cyclist.ie put a lot of effort into advancing the following objective in our strategy:
5.3 We will advocate for further fiscal / taxation measures to be introduced to incentivise cycling (including the use of cargo bikes and e-bikes, and for cycle training instruction).
Following the delivery of our detailed Pre-Budget 2023 Submission plus further engagements with politicians and media oriented work, we were very pleased to see the Finance Bill containing provision to facilitate families looking for an alternative to a second car with the new €3,000 tax incentive for the purchase of cargo bikes (as reported in the Irish Times here).
The mass adoption of the use of cargo bikes – as road conditions improve – will go a long way to help decongest our towns and cities, and to deepen the cycling culture countrywide. Note that we expect that many Cyclist.ie members will be plugging into the special event organised by the European Cyclists’ Federation on 28 Feb 2023 on Cargo bike friendly cities: Tracking cargo bike developments across Europe – details and registration link here.
Aim #6 – Seek to secure high quality routes and infrastructure (p11-12 here) This is, arguably, Cyclist.ie’s most important aim and the one we are putting significant resources into achieving. As noted above, we engaged with the planning process very closely in 2022 and delivered over 100 high quality submissions to Local Authorities and An Bord Pleanála on schemes.
Additionally, we have continued to seek temporary quick-to-construct cycle facilities as an appropriate interim response to emergency situations, such as with the Covid-19 restrictions, with a view to having the facilities carefully assessed and then made permanent as improved designs. (see Objective 6.4 of our strategy).
Some of this work (and plenty of additional advocacy work) takes place through our member groups’ being represented on some of the (Transport) Strategic Policy Committees of the 31 Local Authorities in the country. In a separate article, we will provide an update on Cyclist.ie’s participation in and contributions to the work of these Transport / Infrastructure SPCs and, where appropriate, their Walking and Cycling Sub-committees.
Objective 6.7 of our strategy reads as follows: “We will work to ensure that the main standards / guidelines documents (National Cycle Manual, Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets, and the Rural Cycle Design Guidance) are fully updated and improved in line with international best practice.”
Overall, we were pleased to see the publication of a revised version ofTII’s Rural Cycleway Design Standards (Aug 2022), with specific changes made as a result of our meetings with TII, and of our detailed submission.
We also spent much of 2022 prodding the National Transport Authority in regard to progressing the revision of the National Cycle Manual (current version available here). The document is over 18 months behind schedule but is due to be released very soon (as per our understanding at the end of January 2023). Overall, Cyclist.ie has been frustrated by the slow pace of the work on this document, which we maintain is a crucial part of the jigsaw for the development of high quality cycle networks. This domain will be a priority one for us in 2023.
In regard to the rural environment and creating networks of cycle friendly rural roads, Cyclist.ie – through its Rural Collective – made seriously impressive leaps during 2022. Huge credit is due here to the very active Rural Collective team which was convened back in 2020. The Rural Collective’s main achievements in 2022 are listed here:
The running of a national “Rural Ireland can cycle” campaign to encourage local Councillors to endorse the ‘Vision for Cycling in Rural Ireland’ which included the design and circulation of a bespoke leaflet.
A meeting with the Cavan County Council Active Travel Team (in person and online) with a special focus on Rothar Roads
Engagement with Monaghan Council’s Walking & Cycling Forum
Bike Week events with lots happening across rural Ireland – see here.
Attendance at Velo-city 2022 (plus the publication of the web article report on it and presentation at a subsequent webinar on Velo-city) and the ongoing search for answers about Rothar Roads and the potential for cycle tourisms
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that Cyclist.ie’s Action Group on Research made great strides in 2022. Good research underpins all of our submissions and the development of our papers and positions on a wide range of sustainable transport and safety topics. This AG is now also beginning to reconfigure the “Resources” section of the website so as to make key documents more easily locatable – as shown below.
Finally, at the end of 2022, several active members of Cyclist.ie submitted (successful!) abstracts for the “Socio-cycle” symposium taking place in University College Cork on 03-04 February 2023 – see here for conference and registration details. We look forward to catching up with our colleagues in Cork Cycling Campaign (who are co-organising this event) at this event!
Conclusion Organisationally, we have advanced on many fronts and are in a much stronger position than this time last year. However, core funding remains our main weaknesses, and we look forward to resolving this with the help of our own members and supporters in 2023. We highlight this point in this article when we point out that “Cyclist.ie will mark its 15th birthday, Dublin Cycling Campaign its 30th birthday, while the European Cyclists’ Federation will have 40 candles on its campaigning cake” in 2023.
As one can see from the summary above, 2022 was yet another incredibly busy year for Cyclist.ie and its (now) 35 member groups. Huge credit is due to our fabulous network of members and volunteers.
That said, we continue to punch well above our weight in terms of our impact on mobility discourses, public policy, the development of new legislation, funding for cycling infrastructure and standards.
We imagine a day, not far into the future, when we will have a core staff complement of, perhaps, half a dozen members, who themselves are supporting a far larger membership and mass of supporters. This will enable us to further shape policies and conditions on the ground so that active travel, and active travel combined with high quality public transport, becomes the normal way for many if not most people to get about on a daily basis.
We look forward to your support in 2023 to make that happen.
