The Irish Cycling Campaign, formerly known as Cyclist.ie, was delighted to attend yesterday’s launch of the National Cycle Network Plan in Sallins, County Kildare. Our National Cycling Coordinator, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, and Conor Winchcombe from local group Naas Cycling Campaign were present for the event, along with national level and local level politicians and officials, local school children and other locals out walking their dogs to try out the new facilities.
The publication of the NCN Plan was timed to coincide with the formal opening of the section of the Grand Canal Greenway from Sallins to Aylmer Bridge, and a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Grand Canal, a short distance away from the existing road bridge over the canal on the main Sallins to Naas (R407) road. The new canal bridge provides a motor traffic free link that will be enormously helpful for local school children, for those walking and cycling to the nearby Sallins train station, and for the increasing number of recreational cyclists and visitors to the area. Visitor numbers are also sure to increase when the Grand Canal greenway link from Adamstown to Hazel Hatch is completed in the near future.
At the launch, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (pictured below) stressed the multiple functions of high quality motor traffic free and greenway infrastructure – it’s about catering for local school and intermodal commuter trips as well cycle tourism.
The Irish Cycling Campaign is very happy to see the NCN Plan published. The publication of the final plan comes approximately 18 months after the circulation of the draft NCN plan, and after Irish Cycling Campaign (then called Cyclist.ie) made a detailed submission on the draft plan (see here) as did many Cyclist.ie local member groups.
The planned NCN (shown below) will link cities and towns of over 5,000 people with a safe, connected and inviting cycle network. The proposed cycle network of approximately 3,500km will connect more than 200 settlements and 2.8m people. It will link to destinations such as transport hubs, centres of education, centres of employment, leisure, and tourist destinations with the intention of facilitating greater cycling and walking amongst students, leisure users, tourists, and commuters alike.
In a separate article, we will comment further on elements of the plan and details of route choices.
Notes:
The featured image at the top was kindly provided by Félim Kelly from Aecom. In that photograph are (going from left to right): Damien (Irish Cycling Campaign), Felim (Aecom), Richard (Transport Infrastructure Ireland), Michael (TII), Úna (TII) and Elizabeth (Department of Transport).
The Irish Cycling Campaign (formerly known as Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network) welcomes the publication of Ireland’s first National Cycle Network (NCN) plan.
The launch takes place in Sallins, Co. Kildare on Wednesday 10th January 2024. The NCN identifies a network of 85 cycling corridors around the country linking cities and towns of over 5,000 people.
Overall, we strongly support the development of a NCN, the aim of which is “to link towns, cities and destinations across Ireland with a safe, connected and inviting cycle network; encouraging more people away from their cars and onto their cycles.”
In response to the public consultation on the draft version of the plan back in June 2022, we made a detailed submission which is available here. Then as now, we make the point that:
We need to replace the lion’s share of our shorter car journeys (under 5km/10km) with active travel trips, and our longer car trips with either public transport on its own, or active travel plus public transport for those living further away from public transport services. This is where the real carbon savings – and improvements to public health – can take place. We welcome the aim (as shown in the image below from the NCN website) that the NCN will link with public transport services, and also with other key destinations and cycle networks.
National Cycling Coordinator, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, added that:
A core objective of the NCN needs to be to connect the towns and villages with safe/attractive cycle-friendly routes to their own rural hinterlands in all directions to a radius of 5-8km. This will allow for the most important local trips (to schools and shops for example) to be made safe for active travel – and hence for the greatest possible impact to be made on increasing the modal shares for cycling.
We look forward to the opening of a section of the Grand Canal Greenway between Sallins and Aylmer Bridge, at which the launch of the plan will take place.
The Irish Cycling Campaign will post its reflections on the launched plan after the event.
Our organisation runs on the power of volunteers. Without their time, expertise and commitment, literally nothing would be done. Kudos to all.
Have you ever considered doing some (more) voluntary work for the organisation? There are very many ways for members to get involved. For now, we’ll concentrate on some exciting opportunities just around the corner. At the end of February, we will hold our Annual General Meeting at which we will hold elections to fill vacancies on both the Board and the Executive Committee.
The Board of Directors / Trustees is the body responsible for the governance of the company and charity. It comprises up to 10 people and meets regularly (usually online) to deal with matters such as legal compliance, financial oversight, risk management, internal policy development, human resource matters and so on. Do you have experience in any of these areas? Might you be interested in exploring this further? If so, please email our Chairperson Mairead Forsythe for an informal chat to find out what is involved [[email protected]].
The Executive Committee is the group of 12 people responsible for overseeing the organisation’s national campaigning function, its day-to-day management of finances, and internal workings that are not governance-specific. In other words, it seeks to ensure that the greatest possible impact can be made. Crucially, gender and geographic balance are sought. If you would like to find out more, please email the National Cycling Coordinator, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama [[email protected]].
We will be posting more formal details on the above over the coming weeks.
At the Cyclist.ie EGM on Thursday 4th January 2024 our new Constitution and new name were adopted unanimously. See link to new Constitution here.
So we’re now a fully-fledged national organisation, the Irish Cycling Campaign. Dublin Cycling Campaign will be one of our local groups and paid up members of Dublin Cycling Campaign will transfer automatically to membership of the Irish Cycling Campaign.
The National Executive Committee will be working on the development of a new logo over the coming months and we look forward to launching a contemporary logo that reflects the new organisation around mid-year. In the interim we’ll use the temporary logo above. We’ll also be working on finalising an Operations Manual and developing a new web address, email addresses and social media handles to reflect the new name.
These are exciting times in cycle campaigning so do get in touch if you would like to get involved. Keep an eye out for more information and news of developments on the website.
Cyclist.ie is now a member of the Irish Environmental Network, as we report recently on our website here. So we were delighted to attend IEN’s recent Gathering of Members, held in Cloughjordan in County Tipperary from 24-26 November 2023. In this short report, Cyclist.ie Executive Committee Member Mary Sinnott shares her reflections on the weekend, which was also attended by Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, our National Cycling Coordinator.
The weekend gathering took place in the Cloughjordan Enterprise Centre. It was a carefully considered, well planned, informal exchange that allowed new members like me to meet many other seasoned advocates.
We had ample opportunity to get to know all attendees, learn from them, and understand common challenges. We had separate sessions on topical NGO challenges including: how to deal with misinformation and online abuse, environmental and ecological economics, preparing press releases, using social media effectively, and succession planning. All of those topics were engaging and provoked much constructive discussion. In developing into more effective and more professional organisations, succession planning is particularly important. The recent sudden passing of Andrew St. Ledger of CELT (see here) – and indeed today’s very sad news of the passing of Michael Ewing, the former Coordinator of the Environmental Pillar and IEN (see here) – reinforces sharply the relevance of this topic.
On Saturday afternoon, we had an outdoor session which commenced with the planting of an Irish oak tree to commemorate Andrew St. Ledger. The tour following this allowed us to explore the Eco-Village, to get to know each other better and to learn about how it was conceived and how it is developing. Thankfully, the crisp and cold November weather allowed us to enjoy it without much hurry.
More than anything, the weekend was fun, light, instructive and reassuring. I was quickly convinced that IEN is a very beneficial network for its members. Learning that the trick to advocacy is repetition and persistence was a reassuring diamond that I took home with me.
As Cyclist.ie has just recently been accepted as a member of IEN, having the chance to join its 2023 Gathering was timely and beneficial. It is very clear to me now that membership will offer us a wide network of NGOs to exchange and collaborate with, to share information and training supports, and avail of the financial benefit of membership. It is a network that this organisation will benefit from as we evolve and seek to meet our strategic aims.
Cyclist.ie wishes to sincerely thank the IEN organisers for such a rich weekend of activities and for the warm welcome into the network.
And thanks to Davie Philip in Cultivate for the photos used above!
Cyclist.ie is delighted to announce a collaboration with Cycle Friendly Employer Ireland. CFEI is the only official provider of the EU-standard Cycle-Friendly Employer programme in Ireland. Developed by the European Cyclists’ Federation, the programme is aimed at getting more people on bikes and cycling to work. Together, Cyclist.ie and CFEI support the development of more cycle-friendly routes nationwide and more funding opportunities for cycling.
Cyclist.ie is the national cycling advocacy organisation for Ireland. At present it has 35 member groups countrywide in both urban and rural areas, and engages systematically with national level government departments and agencies, and with local authorities through its local groups. Cyclist.ie was founded in 2008 to advocate nationally for better cycling conditions, and built on the work of its member organisations, some of whom had commenced cycle campaigning over 30 years ago (as reported here). Cyclist.ie is the member for Ireland of the European Cyclists’ Federation and has engaged closely on European transport policy formation, through the ECF, for many years. Cyclist.ie is also a member of the Irish Environmental Network and The Wheel (Ireland’s national association of charities, community groups and social enterprises).
Cycle Friendly Employer Ireland is part of the European Cyclists’ Federation’s Cycle-Friendly Employer Consortium. Its goal is to help employers create cycle-friendly workplaces for their team, increase cycling confidence nationwide and encourage behaviour change to support Ireland’s green transition.
CFE is part of Ireland’s Sustainable Mobility Action Plan. Participation in the CFE scheme helps to:
Decrease carbon emissions
Reduce transport costs
Lower employee absence and improve wellbeing
Demonstrate one’s commitment to the environment and sustainability
Attract and retain talent and customers
The collaboration between Cyclist.ie and CFEI will work to increase awareness amongst companies / organisations in Ireland of the CFE certification framework, and of the campaigning and advocacy work of Cyclist.ie which is helping to reshape transport policy and culture in Ireland.
On the announcement of the alliance, Mairéad Forsythe, Chairperson of the Board of Cyclist.ie, said
“We are at an extremely exciting time in the development of cycling in Ireland. Cycling advocacy plays an integral and important role in influencing how progressive transport policy is developed, and Cyclist.ie is leading the way in recasting transport policy at local and national levels. But companies and other organisations also have a crucial role in influencing how employees commute to work – so Cyclist.ie is delighted to team up with Cycle Friendly Employer Ireland and help to shape how companies think about the development of local transport plans and the provision of cycling friendly infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Michael O’Boyle, CEO of Cycle Friendly Employer Ireland, said
“Companies and other organisations are now recognising the multiple benefits of having a healthy workforce with more employees cycling to work. It reduces emissions and is cheaper for employers and employees, and improves health outcomes. CFEI helps employers to measure their current cycle-friendliness and implement effective, actionable strategies to help more employees to cycle to work.
Our services include bike pool schemes, insurance, maintenance support and facilities consultation, as well as building community within and between cycle-friendly organisations.
Individual action can have a big impact and we are delighted to team up with Cyclist.ie to promote cycling throughout Ireland.”
All in all, the alliance between the two organisations is a positive move for cycling development in Ireland. Both organisations look forward to seeing – and to contributing to – the development of a strong cycling culture countrywide.
Cyclist.ie is very happy to announce that it is now a member of the Irish Environmental Network. This comes following the recent approval of its application to join.
As set out on its website, the Irish Environmental Network is a network of individual environmental Non-Government Organisations that work individually and, as appropriate, jointly to protect and enhance the environment, and to place environmental issues centre stage in Ireland and internationally. The IEN works to promote the interlinked principles of environmental, social and economic sustainability. The IEN represents to government the capacity building and funding needs of its member organisations, all of whom are involved in one way or another in the well-being, protection and enhancement of the environment.
Underpinning Cyclist.ie’s successful application to join IEN is its not-for-profit and registered charity status, its national remit and its proven experience over many years in conducting high quality and high impact advocacy work in the environmental and sustainable transport spaces.
On hearing the news of its successful application to IEN, the Chair of the Board of Cyclist.ie, Mairéad Forsythe, said:
Cyclist.ie is delighted to be part of the membership of IEN. We bring many years of sustainable transport advocacy experience to the network, and look forward to collaborating with other IEN members over the coming years.
On becoming a member of IEN, Cyclist.ie joins other member organisations such as An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Cultivate and Feasta. Cyclist.ie already has positive working relationships with many IEN member organisation from running and participating in joint campaigns and initiatives over the years.
News of Cyclist.ie joining IEN comes shortly after Cyclist.ie’s major in person gathering of its groups/branches on 30th September and the 30th Birthday of the Dublin Cycling Campaign group – as we reported on here. Joining IEN represents another step in the growth and development of Cyclist.ie, and in making a bigger impact on public policy and on the culture of Ireland.
Last weekend cycling campaigners from Cyclist.ie groups / branches across the country descended on Dublin to re-energise each other ahead of what we expect will be a busy next 12-18 months of campaigning.
The Tailors’ Hall Gathering (Saturday 30th Sept) Representatives from many of our 35 groups landed into the lovely Tailors’ Hall (An Taisce’s HQ) for a day of debating our campaigning priorities for 2024. We were delighted to have two representatives (Clare and Keelan) there from the newest local group, Gorey Pedestrian and Cycling Association – and with other delegates having traveled from as far away as Skibbereen, Sligo and Gort. And we were even more delighted that Mná na h-Éireann were out in force, with slightly more women attending the meeting than men – and even more women attending the cycle on the Sunday (see below).
The Gathering was especially important since our network of groups had not met since before the pandemic – and there is nothing like meeting in person to have proper debates with one’s peers.
Cyclist.ie Chairperson Neasa Bheilbigh setting the scene for the day – Photo credit: Dave Tobin
To start the day off, we were treated to ten short talks show-casing successful campaigns and initiatives at a local level. These included talks on:
School streets in Galway [Reg Turner, Chair of Galway Cycling Campaign]
Community garden cycles, Miren Maialen [Dublin Cycling Campaign]
Biodiversity themed pedal parades – see poster below [Claire Anne Tobin]
There then followed two engaging sessions – one, gathering our thoughts ahead of the 2024 Local Elections; and the second, exploring the nature of crises and what it means for an advocacy body to be ‘crisis-fit’.
Ger O’Halloran (Dublin Cycling Campaign) reporting back on the breakout session – Photo credit: Damien Ó Tuama
All in all, there were some rich discussions and learnings from the event which we are now digesting, and which the Executive Committee will analyse in more depth over the coming weeks.
How many Brompton bikes can you store in a historic fireplace? Photo credit: Siobhán McNamara
Dublin Cycling Campaign’s 30th Birthday (Saturday 30th Sept) The timing of our Gathering was chosen so as to synchronise with Dublin Cycling Campaign’s big 30th Birthday celebrations. As explained in the press release issued ahead of the party, Dublin Cycling Campaign “emerged in 1993 in response to the systematic omission from official transport thinking of cycling as an essential part of the urban transport system. Cycling, and indeed walking, had essentially been cut out of all of the ‘serious’ transport strategies and investment programmes for several decades”.
The party brought together members and friends of the Campaign going back in time – and we were fortunate enough to have some gorgeous black and white photos from the 1990s taken by Photographer Jim Berkeley on display for the day – many thanks Jim! Additionally, seven of DCC’s 13 Chairpersons over its three decade span came along, and elected politicians from an array of parties at Council, Dáil Éireann and European Parliament levels popped in over the course of the evening to mark the occasion.
A huge thanks to DJ 25Seán who played some fine dancey tunes upstairs in the hall – the perfect way to unwind after a day of meetings!
DJ 25Seán mixing it up for the guests – Photo credit: Miren Maialen
Excitement all round at the party! – Photo credit: Will Andrews
Dodder Cycleway Spin (Sunday 1st October) To top the weekend off and wipe the cobwebs away on Sunday morning, Mairéad Forsythe from Dublin Cycling Campaign led a lovely spin along the Dodder Greenway from Rathfarnham to Kiltipper Park where all the gang enjoyed a picnic – as per the photos below.
Rendezvous point #1 at the Grand Canal: Photo credit: Katleen Bell Bonjean
The Cyclist.ie / Dublin Cycling Campaign gang at Balrothery weir on the Dodder Cycleway – Photo credit: Katleen Bell Bonjean.
Mary Sinnott and Katleen Bell Bonjean from Cyclist.ie’s Executive Committee enjoying the picnic – Photo credit: Katleen Bell Bonjean.
Anne Nospickel and Snoobles taking a break in Kiltipper Park – Photo credit: Katleen Bell Bonjean
Cyclist.ie wishes to thank all of the organisers for their work in making the weekend happen – and all of the delegates and party people for contributing to the events. We also thank An Taisce, The Tailors’ Hall Tavern, and The Right Catering Company for the venue and the fine food served on the Saturday.
We look forward to the next Cyclist.ie in-person gathering which, we hope, will be west of the Shannon in Spring 2024!
Damien Ó Tuama 03 October 2023
Note: featured image at the top of this page taken by Jessica from The Right Catering Company
Jo Sachs Eldridge from Leitrim Cycling Campaign and Cyclist.ie’s Executive Committee has penned this piece on the proposed speed reductions announced by the Minister last week, and how in particular they relate to rural roads.
At Velo-city[i], the international cycling conference, some years ago I tracked down speakers of many nations to quiz them about their rural roads – did theirs look like ours, did they have similar widths, volumes of traffics, speeds, could they help me demonstrate that the concept of ‘Rothar Roads’[ii] could work. The Swiss said no, the Austrians said no, the Slovenians said no, the French said no…and then I spoke to the Danish and they said yes! They said ‘we have roads like that and it works’ but then she laughed and said ‘but of course we have a different culture of driving in Denmark’.
As she saw it, that difference in driving culture was a fact.
And she’s right but maybe it doesn’t always have to be that way.
I went to a school where kids were regularly hit by teachers. Not so long ago you might have found yourself in a restaurant with people smoking at the next table. And driving home after a few too many drinks down the pub was the norm. All of these are almost unthinkable now.
Although there are some things that seem to be sewn into the fabric of our damp souls, we in Ireland do culture change well. That’s one of the strengths of this country. We are willing to learn new behaviours, adopt new attitudes, change our perspective.
I have huge hopes for the reduction in speed limits on our urban areas and rural roads. We probably all instinctively know that 80kph is not the appropriate speed to travel on those narrow, bendy roads with limited visibility. We know this yet we are sometimes confused by the signs we see as we enter such a road environment – the 80kph speed limit standing proud. Somewhere in our brain we think maybe it is ok. Yet the collision rates and road death statistics tell a very different story. In 2022 73% of road fatalities occurred on a rural road[iii]. This is not acceptable. The numbers of road deaths in any rural or urban area are not acceptable.
The speed reductions are not the answer, of course. As with many complex problems there is no one answer. But this is one huge step towards creating a very different kind of public space.
Some years ago, as part of the ‘Vision for Cycling in Rural Ireland’[iv], the Rural Cycling Collective called for changes on our rural L roads, our “Rothar Roads” as we call them. We know that in many road and street environments we need new infrastructure to create safe, segregated spaces for people on bicycles. We also know that the creation of segregated spaces on our narrow rural roads is often not feasible. Yet we also know those same rural roads already create an almost perfect cycling network.
So often these L roads have low motor traffic volumes, have smooth running surfaces, are often lined with beautiful bio-diverse hedgerows and crucially already connect us to where we want to go. What makes them less than perfect is the culture of driving – inappropriate speeds, particularly on blind bends, overtaking without allowing for safe passing distances, driving with the assumption there will be no one else on the road.
The proposed speed reductions are, I believe, the start of a new culture of driving in Ireland. The start of the creation of an environment where people walking and cycling on our rural roads really are ‘expected and respected’.
And I say this, not just as an optimist but as someone who has observed so many changes in our culture over the years.
Last week Trinity College Dublin hosted the Cycling and Society Annual Conference – the first time the event had been held outside of Britain. In this article, the National Cycling Coordinator of Cyclist.ie and An Taisce, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, offers some reflections on the conference while drawing on the inputs of some of the delegates from Cyclist.ie member groups who participated.
Cycling and Society (C&S) was set up as a group of researchers who wanted to share their studies and create a space for critical thinking in 2004. As explained on their website, they decided to have an annual symposium, keep it very low cost and make it very accessible. From the first edition in Lancaster, every year a local team takes on the organisation of the symposium.
I was delighted when I heard last year that the 2023 edition of the conference was being held in Trinity College Dublin. Cyclist.ie members have attended what is a top quality conference as far back as 2009 when it was held in Bolton University. This year there was a large share of the speakers who were representatives or members of Cyclist.ie. I highlight some of the contributions of these members below as well as drawing on other contributions.
Overall Feedback The C&S Conference was a terrific success by any yardstick. The planning and organisation of it was flawless, the attendance was terrific (it completely booked out with many people disappointed they couldn’t attend in person), and the quality of the presentations and discussions was top notch.
As Mairéad Forsythe, Chairperson of the Board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG / Cyclist.ie, put it: “the conference was a great opportunity to meet with cyclists from around the world, most of whom attended in person. The presentations were interesting and stimulating – and the ones I attended were thought-provoking about groups under-represented in cycling: women, children, older people and other minorities”.
Keith Phelan from Kerry Cycling Campaign and Vool agreed with Mairéad – he felt that the conference “provided an invaluable opportunity to gain insights from both home and abroad. I found that there was a good mix of topics, themes and presenter backgrounds. I found all of the presentations and discussions I attended insightful and engaging”.
Meanwhile Cllr. Donna Cooney, an active member of Dublin Cycling Campaign (who was just back from curating the Bicycle Space at the Electric Picnic Festival – see here) thought that the conference was very valuable – “it was great to be the company of like-minded people with the same passion for the ability of cycling to bring so many benefits to communities and our future survival.”
The social cycle organised by Dublin Cycling Campaign on Thursday evening was a big hit – just what the doctor ordered after a full day of debate and bouncing between parallel sessions in opposite corners of the Trinity campus! For Clara Clark, from Cycling Without Age, it was a “brilliant fun event”; while, as Keith from Kerry put it, the cycle “allowed participants to experience how Dublin’s cycle infrastructure has improved in recent years. We traveled through some areas I hadn’t cycled in since I lived there in the 90’s, it was like a different city.” This was great to hear – we are making progress in Dublin City after three decades of campaigning! A big thanks to all of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and Cyclist.ie marshals for running the event.
L to R: Ellen Cullen (Chairperson, Dublin Cycling Campaign), Gemma i Simón (Barcelona) and Thomas Van Laake (a Netherlander doing research at the University of Manchester) and other delegates enjoying the social cycle – Photo Credit, Miren Maialen Samper
The Minister and the Keynote Speaker Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (below) opened the conference by returning to some of his core transport campaigning points – “we have been designing for the car for far too long – for many decades – and need to change trajectory”. He re-emphasised the need to question what the function of a public road / public space ought to be while observing how it currently works for its users – and then stressed the need to reshape it according to its agreed function (and in line with the new National Cycle Manual as published earlier in the month – see as welcomed by Cyclist.ie in our recent article).
Minister Eamon Ryan opening the conference proceedings
The Minister also reminded us of the speech of Enrique Penelosa when he spoke in the National Concert Hall in Dublin at the 2005 Velo-city conference. The former Mayor of Bogota implored Velo-city delegates and the Irish Local Authority engineers in the audience to think of streets as places for kissing and for relaxation – and not primarily as conduits for the movement of ever bigger metal boxes. Streets are quintessentially social spaces! I also remember that speech back in 2005 – such an eloquent and powerful speaker was Enrique!
The TCD keynote address, entitled “Is it all just words? How to get from cycling as storytelling to cycling as actual planning”, was delivered by Malene Freudendal-Pederson, Professor in Urban Planning Aalborg University. It provided a critique of ‘autologic’ and of the paradigm of motorised automobility. She condemned the technocratic solutions offered by a particular type of urban planning that is supported by traditional traffic models (where driving time is valued more highly than that of train passengers – a point that has been raised before at OECD workshops in Ireland as noted by Joan Swift in Sligo Cycling Campaign). There is a need, the professor argued, to sell ‘the lived’ and human scale city. And so powerful is the 15 minute city idea that it has engendered conspiracy theories around elites seeking to lock the public into these 15 minute zones!
For Miren Maialen Samper from Dublin Cycling Campaign, Professor Freudendal-Pederson’s address was really interesting as she reminded us, amongst other things, that “over 30% of car journeys in Europe cover distances of less than 3km, while around 50% of journeys cover less than the 5km. These distances can be covered within 15-20 minutes by bicycle.” These statistics are well worth repeating! The audience was also reminded that ‘at-point emissions’ from electric cars are still significant when one takes into account the fine particulates continually created from the wear of car tyres and braking systems. There was plenty more food for thought in the address, topics which are explored in her most recent book Making Mobilities Matter.
Some Highlights from the Sessions I note below a selection of topics and speakers that made a big impression on me and my Cyclist.ie colleagues at the event. Unfortunately, due to the (necessary) parallel session format, I missed many talks and discussions that I would love to have attended – so, no doubt, I am omitting plenty of fine contributions to the conference. I am just scratching the surface here.
Cycling in Older Age I was fortunate enough to chair this session which brought together four speakers who drew on some excellent qualitative research as they explored this under-examined sphere. Dr. Graeme Sherriff and Ian Cookson (from the University of Salford) conducted walking and wheeling interviews and ran mapping workshops in which older age participants plotted on paper maps the good, bad and inaccessible places to wheel/walk in their neighbourhoods – simple but very effective methods.
Meanwhile Carol Kachadoorian (from dblTilde CORE) shone a light on the Older Adult Communities in the US, and on the nature of the processes of both cycling cessation and returning to cycling. Additionally, Clara Clark gave us great insights into her Cycling Without Age experiences, and afterwards commented that “it was an honour to have the opportunity to speak on planning for inclusive cycling for all ages”. All in all, this was a rich session – it was just a pity that, due to time pressures, we were unable to have a Q&A discussion immediately afterwards… but the conversations certainly continued over lunch and throughout the rest of the conference.
Carol Kachadoorian in action
Mobility Justice, Car-centric Discourses and Social Dominance Theory Amongst my favourite presentations at the conference were those exploring mobility justice (a central concept in mobility studies which concerns how power and inequality inform the governance and control of movement) and discourses of mobility. Dr. Robert Egan from TCD unpacked the car-centric discourses we are exposed to on a daily basis, and presented the bases of alternative discourses of everyday mobility. This is incredibly important research as we seek to denormalise movement in cars which are ever larger and create increasing congestion. Meanwhile Nadia Williams (from TU Dublin) drew on social dominance theory to help elucidate the processes around how blame falls on the subordinate groups in the public realm. It was also fascinating to hear about the challenges of carving out cycle friendly environments in the city of Tehran, as described by Mohammad Nazarpoor (from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran).
A photo of from the presentation of Mohammad Nazarpoor
Local Authority Perspectives For the Cyclist.ie delegates, the presentations from the engineers and officials in Irish Local Authorities prompted the biggest reactions. As commented on by Sandra Velthuis, a member of the board of Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG, on her own blog, “Conor Geraghty of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council raised pertinent questions about the need for, and nature of, public consultation. The local authority believes in citizen engagement and consults beyond its statutory minimum requirements, yet it is his experience that no party ever feels they have had enough of a say. Around 40% of time on projects is taken up by consultation processes and a further 40% by procurement processes. At this pace, climate change targets will simply not be met.”
Conor Geraghty from DLR Council showing a sample of quotes from submissions received by the Council – Photo credit, Dave Anderson
For Keith Phelan from Kerry Cycling Festival, he was “really inspired by the contributions from the staff for the local authorities (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council and Kilkenny County Council) as well as the NTA. It was really positive to see the vision for cycling in their plans and particularly to hear that cycling is finally being approached with a more holistic approach involving different departments and perspectives rather than being treated as simply a ‘transport’ concern.” And he added – “while Dublin is obviously on a different scale to other Irish urban centres, Caitríona Corr’s presentation on Kilkenny’s approach to designing a strategic cycle network was really relevant to smaller urban areas and showed the potential (and challenges) for cycling in regional towns.”
Caitríona Corr (South East Technical University and Kilkenny Co Co) speaking at the session on Engagement – Photo credit, Dave Anderson
Joan Swift from Sligo Cycling Campaign also highlighted the value of Caitríona’s contributions, with her emphasis on “collaboration, moving away from silos, expert facilitation, getting everyone in the same room, running cycling events, as well as planning, and positive messaging”.
Campaigning and Activist Perspectives I was struck by the similarities in the characteristics of MUBi, the Portuguese cycling advocacy association, and Cyclist.ie – as gleaned from the presentation by Vera Diogo who is based in the city of Porto. MUBi was founded in 2009 as a non-profit association of volunteer urban cyclists and it aims to improve the conditions for cycling in Portugal, both as a way of transportation and recreation. It has more than 1800 members. The frustration of campaigning in Portugal was palpable from Vera’s talk with a clear lack of political leadership and funding for cycling in Portugal at present.
I presented myself on Cyclist.ie’s experiences of engaging with the planning system and, in particular, on Cyclist.ie’s work (led by Colm Ryder, our Infrastructure Coordinator) in making submissions to Irish Local Authorities and An Bord Pleanála. There is a huge body of work carried out by the Cyclist.ie team, with much of it happening behind the scenes, and approx 100 submissions were made in 2022 and over 40 thus far in 2023. My presentation in full can be read here.
Damien Ó Tuama speaking on Cyclist.ie’s work
Keith Phelan gave a terrific talk on hashtag activism and on the work carried out in the (brilliantly named!) Cycle Space Invaders project. Well worth checking out the website here.
A screenshot from the Cycle Space Invaders website.
Another fabulous presentation from the campaigners side of the house came from Anne Cronin and Conor Buckley from Limerick Cycling Campaign. Their focus was the “Evidence from the E-Cargo Bike Demonstration Project in Limerick”. The project was all about supporting families and businesses to make the transition from driving to more sustainable and active modes of transport, and demonstrating that there are cycling alternatives for most short-journey trips and even some trips considered longer.
Equally, the project provided an opportunity for people with disabilities / reduced mobility and families with a child with a disability to trial the potential of an electric cargo bike for certain trip uses. One of the main takeaways from the trial was that people love looking at and touching e-cargo bikes – these are feel-good machines! This is such a terrific project overall – I look forward to hearing about the next development phases of it.
Cycle School Buses The final topic I include here is cycle school buses. There was huge interest in this topic arising from the discussions of the researchers from Barcelona.
For Mairéad Forsythe, her highlight was “meeting with Gemma Simón i Más and Anna Aretha Sach who are conducting research at the University of Barcelona on school bike buses. They were interested in seeing an Irish bike bus in action so I invited them to join the D12 Bike Bus from Crumlin Road to Riverview Educate Together Primary School on Limekiln Road on Friday morning. We escorted our charges safely to school and had some great celebratory bell-ringing at the brand new two-way segregated cycle track on Limekiln Lane. The discussion in the school grounds with Aodhán and Róisín was so interesting that Gemma and Anna had to cycle fast on their rented bikes to arrive in Trinity on time for their presentation. They are very keen to have Irish bike buses link up with their European bike bus network.” This was a sentiment echoed by Cllr. Cooney who said “it was good to link in with the school cycle bus program in Barcelona and we can send other bicycles buses their way into the international network”.
We were also reminded in the Q&A session following the bike bus presentations by one of the Scottish delegates of the gadget used in Glasgow to change the traffic lights – as reported on by The Guardian in Sept 2022. Wouldn’t it be great to trial that in Ireland as well?
In Summary It is impossible to do the conference justice in an article like this one. As with any high quality academic gathering, there was a huge amount to digest and there will be many leads and publications to follow up on over the coming months. It was intellectually exciting, and it reminds one of the importance of university based research in shaping the thinking and practices of those outside of the academy.
I was delighted to get my hands on Prof. Peter Cox’s new book, Cycling Activism: Bike Politics and Social Movements, and indeed to catch up in person with Peter who has been the heart of the Cycling and Society group since its inception. In fact, reconnecting with friends and with researching and campaigning colleagues from across Ireland, Britain and beyond was an especially enjoyable part of the conference.
Congratulations again to the Cycling & Society Committee (and to Graeme Sherriff who represented them in person in Dublin!) for supporting the local hosts in running the conference. And a huge congratulations to Dr. Robert Egan, Prof. Brian Caulfield and team for running a top notch event. They even organised a sunny evening for the social cycle! Well done.
Trinity College looking lovely in the sun – Photo credit, Dave Anderson
