“National Bike Week is a great initiative, and I support it wholeheartedly. I also welcome the introduction of the new bicycle rental scheme and the removal of HGVs from the city centre. These are great steps towards making Dublin a truly cycle friendly city. However, we have a long way to go. I am calling on Dublin City Council to begin consultations to make Dublin a true ‘Cyclist’s Capital’ by the end of the current Council in 2014”, says Claire. According to O’Regan - herself a keen cyclist, Dublin has great potential as a cycling city, but the haphazard approach we take to cycles lanes and dangerous stretches of roads is not good enough. She says that fear of accidents is preventing Dublin from becoming a truly cycling friendly capital. “Cycling can be the fastest, cheapest way of travelling through Dublin, as well as having significant environmental and health benefits. However, there is still a great deal of risk associated with cycling around Dublin, and much of our 130 miles of cycle lanes is shared with other traffic and pedestrians, meaning many of our cycling routes are dangerous,” says Claire.The Labour Councillor, says that the cycle lanes on O’Connell Street, our capital’s main thoroughfare, epitomise the priority that is given to cycling. “On O’Connell Street, cycle lanes are marked for one half of just one side of the street. The signal that this sends out is that three quarters of O’Connell Street is off limits to cyclists.” O’Regan has been campaigning on cycling issues for many months, in particular a number of dangerous sections of lanes and roads in her North Inner City ward. “I have raised a number of concerns with Dublin City Council over the past few months. I have no doubt that officials take these concerns seriously, and do their best to find a solution, but in the absence of a co-ordinated strategy the piecemeal approach to cycling lanes and facilities does not go far enough. I look forward to working with Dublin City Council, the Dublin Transport Office, and most importantly cyclists themselves to works towards a ‘Cyclist’s Capital’ for the 21st Century which we can all be proud of.” |
