Mike McKillen was the first chairperson of Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network – from its foundation in February 2009. At our Council meeting on 12 March he announced that he decided to get off the ‘bike’ in order to let new legs pedal it into the future. Seven years in the saddle is long enough, particularly since as Flann O’Brien wrote in ‘The Third Policeman’, if you sit in a saddle for too long you fuse at a molecular level with the leather!

Colm Ryder (from Dublin Cycling Campaign) was nominated and elected unanimously as our new Chair at the Council meeting on Saturday 12 March and has taken over from Mike. Colm has plenty of energy and ideas so the steering and direction of the ‘bike’ are in good hands. Mike will still be involved in Dublin Cycling Campaign and with whatever has to be done in Cyclist.ie.

In handing over Mike said “I wish Colm well in the role. He has a great bunch of volunteers and an able National Cycling Coordinator in Dr. Damien O’Tuama”.

Mike is pictured above on the left, on his own bike; Colm is on a Dublin Bike, on the right

This video describes the various smarter travel facilities and initiatives that have led to the University of Limerick winning the National Smarter Travel Campus of the Year Award, the National Cycling Campus of the Year Award and the National Students’ Union of the Year Award.

Cyclist.ie seeks a volunteer with fund-raising skills to help it secure corporate social responsibility (CSR)- or philanthropic-type funding for its work. Cyclist.ie’s fundraising volunteer will advise on, and help to advance, a plan to approach the chosen companies and funders. More info.

Healthy Ireland launched the long awaited “Get Ireland Active – National Physical Activity Plan” in Dublin today (14th Jan 2016). Ministers Leo Varadkar (Health), Paschal Donohoe (Transport, Tourism and Sport) and Michael Ring (Sport) each spoke at the event. Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, National Cycling Coordinator with Cyclist.ie, attended on behalf of the cycling campaigning community. Cycling Ireland were also present representing the sporting arm of cycling.

The common theme of each of the Ministers’ speeches was that in order to avoid further pressure being applied to an already overstretched health service, it is essential to change national habits so as to have physical activity as a normal part of our everyday lives. Hear hear! And how does one change these habits? It will require multiple agencies, sporting groups, the voluntary sector etc. in order to bring about a paradigm shift at every level of society.

In Cyclist.ie, we strongly believe that the built environment itself must not be an ‘obesogenic one’ – it must make it easy and safe for people of all ages and abilities to walk and cycle. We are delighted to see this point elaborated more fully in Section Four (Environment) of the plan. The proof, of course, will be determined by the extent to which this plan shapes the capital spending programmes of other departments. It is simply not acceptable that cycling receives a minimal mention in the government’s spending plans announced recently; PDF available  here

The National Physical Activity Plan is downloadable here and Cyclist.ie will be examining it in more detail over the coming days and weeks. Watch this space.