September has been a bad month for cyclist fatalities on our roads. Nearly nine months into the year, the number of cyclist fatalities has risen to 13 compared to 10 for the whole of 2024. The government is not doing enough.
In Helsinki, a city of approximately 600,000, there were NO road fatalities in the last year. The critical measures to achieve this included –
Reducing speed limit in 50% of streets from 50kph to 30 kph over the last 50 years
Better enforcement by the police.
After announcing that they were going to reduce the default speed limit in urban areas, the government has changed its mind. They said that local authorities could lower the speed limit on certain roads but identifying individual roads where the speed limit is reduced is more bureaucratic rather than reducing the default speed limit where only higher speed roads have to be explicitly specified. You can view a short film about road safety in Helsinki on our facebook page here.
Kildare County Council proposes to open public consultation on speed limits shortly.
Car Parking & Motornormativity
Motornormativity is an unconscious cognitive bias in which the assumption is made that motor car ownership and use is an unremarkable social norm. In essence it is a windscreen view of the world and the place of cars in it.
September has drawn to a close and a new year starts for university students in Maynooth. A few “new” cars have started to park on our estate road which is close to the university and has provoked some residents to place a note on them which states “No Parking” here and ”Park in the GAA”.
The cars were parked on a public road which is in the charge of the council. As far as I am aware, they did not drive in a way that would pose a risk to children or adults in the estate. They were not blocking any entrances and not preventing any emergency vehicle from entering the estate. They weren’t even taking up a parking space in front of a private house.
Placing notes on cars about where they are parked is a clear example of motornormativity. People don’t feel entitled to park on grassy sections of public parks but they do feel entitled to illegally park on footpaths and to tell others that they can’t park on public roads.
Royal Canal Opens in Dublin
Finally, some good news – the Irishycle.com website reports that the central section of the Royal Canal Greenway in Dublin City is now fully opened after two and a half years of construction to make the route accessible for pedestrians and people cycling.The project included installing new, more gentle ramps, which are more accessible, and new shared crossings at the canal at the Phibsborough,/Drumcondra Road, Russell Street/Jones’ Road, Ballybough Road, and then finishing at the existing crossing on North Strand Road.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is an independent local lobby group for better cycling facilities in Maynooth and Kildare generally. If you would like to support our efforts, we welcome new members. Why not join us – you can find details here.
It has been a long time coming – funding was provided for it a number of years ago – but Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the new pedestrian bridge over the Lyreen River. It will greatly improve pedestrian and cycling facilities on Mill Street in the heart of Maynooth.
Road Safety
As far as cyclists are concerned, road safety has not gone away. The number of fatalities continues to rise. This is against a backdrop where the Department of Transport has announced the abandonment of a 30kph default speed limit for urban areas. Instead of a default speed limit, local authorities may implement 30km/h limits in urban areas where local authorities choose to adopt them.
Year
2022 (12 Months)
2023 (12 Months)
2024 (12 Months)
2025 To Date (8 Months)
No of Cyclist Fatalities
7
8
11
10
Substantial Number of Gardai Have No Interest in their Jobs.
Dr. Elaine Byrne, the chairperson of the Policing and Community Safety Authority has described as “shocking” a report which shows that a substantial number of gardaí assigned to Roads Policing are not doing their jobs, have no interest in doing them and don’t appear to care who knows.
While there are some people like this in every walk of life, it is shocking that a substantial number of gardai fall into this category. One of the core functions of An Garda Síochána is protection of the general public so it is doubly shocking that this includes roads policing where fatalities are increasing.
In the past, various cycling campaign groups have highlighted the indifference of some gardai. While we accept that there are many more serious crimes, the lack of enforcement of legislation regarding the parking of vehicles on footpaths or the parking on cycle lanes has been abysmal.
Provision of Cycle Lane Work near Moone
The conversion of a hard shoulder on the R448 to a segregated cycle route has upset farmers and residents who live in the Moone area. The farmers are concerned that the narrowness of the road lanes are not wide enough for combine harvesters. Some of the residents argue that the section of cycle lane will be from nowhere to nowhere. The works have been described as a pilot with funding provided by the NTA. Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes innovation by Kildare County Council as much of the cycling infrastructure provided in recent years has not been in line with best international practice so we are somewhat sceptical about the quality of innovation.
The idea of converting hard shoulders to cycle lanes is not new. In 2012-13, the government provided funding to designate as “quietways” the conversion of hard shoulders on a number of regional and former national roads. However the works were essentially limited to the addition of road markings so did little to enable increased cycling.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is an independent local lobby group for better cycling facilities in Maynooth and Kildare generally. If you would like to support our efforts, why not join us – you can find details here.
During Covid, as a temporary measure to encourage cycling, Kildare County Council provided plastic bollards to reallocate space from drivers to cyclists/pedestrians. Since then, vehicles have damaged many of them with the result that in May this year, Kildare County Council replaced bollards with “orcas” in a number of locations including on the Straffan and Dublin Roads.
An orca is a moulded plastic separator which is placed along the white line of a cycle lane to discourage drivers from drifting (or parking) on it. While it is an overstatement to label them as “killer orcas”, the positioning of orcas on the Dublin Road, while unlikely to lead to a fatality, could result in a nasty collision for a cyclist. Firstly, the cycle lane is defined by a line of orcas which is positioned 1.7m from the kerb. This contrasts with the former width which delineated space for parked cars of 2.4m. Reallocation of some of this 0.7m difference would have given cyclists more space. Secondly, at entrances to eight private properties, additional orcas are positioned at a 45o angle to the footpath which leaves a gap of only 0.8m between the kerb and orca on the left hand side and a gap of 0.4m between the orca and edge on the right hand side of the cycle lane. The Cycle Design Manual specifies a desirable minimum width is 2m for cycle lanes with an absolute minimum width of 1.5m.
In Dublin CIty, the Council places orcas on the white line which minimises the reduction in effective width of cycle lane. On the Straffan Road, Kildare County Council positions orcas on the inside of the white line which further reduces the effective width for cycling.
Celbridge Road
As a planning authority, Kildare County Council granted planning permission to Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich and Maynooth Educate Together school on the Celbridge Road some 25 years ago. It is unacceptable that there are still no safe cycling (or walking) facilities to the schools despite the authorities being aware of a number of road safety incidents. Kildare County Council did attempt to design facilities in2019 but the quality of the design was very poor. More recently, Kildare County Council employed consultants to produce a high quality design but the NTA has declined to provide funding for the scheme. Maynooth Cycling Campaign is concerned about what elements of the design may be removed in order to meet the NTA approval. We have asked Kildare County Council for a copy of the published design in order to ensure that safety or quality is not compromised in the next chapter of the saga.
Royal Canal Greenway
Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the reopening of the upgraded Royal Canal towpath between Maynooth and Leixlip. We welcome that Kildare County Council has provided access gates in accordance with the Cycle Design Manual which is in contrast to the substandard gates provided elsewhere. We welcome too that there are lengthy sections which have been black topped but disappointed that the Council failed to continue that quality of surface for the entirety of the scheme.
Mill Street
Work continues on Mill Street. The section on the east side between Manor Mills and Main Street is substantially complete and work has started on the equivalent section on the west side. Preliminary work has also started on the proposed pedestrian bridge over the Lyreen River adjacent to Manor Mills.
The quality of design and construction is generally very high but it is disappointing that the design of the Pound Lane junction continues to prioritise traffic from Pound Lane rather than people on Mill Street. Best international practice and the latest edition of Ireland’s Cycle Design Manual are that footpaths and cycle tracks on a main route should continue across a minor junction. In other words, drivers should cross a footpath and cycle track rather than pedestrians and cyclists having to cross a road. The Manual also states
….. it is recommended that all dedicated cycle facilities …… in urban areas in Ireland should be red in colour.
Coloured surfacing of various colours is used in several countries not because it looks nice but for reasons of road safety – to draw attention to vulnerable road users. Cycle lanes were coloured red on the Straffan Road so it again begs the question “What is the policy of Kildare County Council”?
Mobility Hubs
In June, IrishCycle.com reported that Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, would announce a pilot project of mobility hubs in Carlow town, Cork city, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and Sligo town. This was the pilot ahead of a proposed wider rollout of hubs in some 300 centres across the country.
Mobility hubs are defined as locations where people can access multiple types of transportation modes in a central location. While we wish them every success with the pilot hubs, we are disappointed that Maynooth is not included. For a number of years, we have heard whispers of discussions on a bike share scheme between various partners – Kildare County Council, Maynooth University, the NTA and the Department of Transport but nothing firm has materialised. Hopefully something definitive will result from this latest initiative.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is an independent local lobby group for better cycling facilities in Maynooth and Kildare generally.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign has moved to a fee membership of €30 per person per annum. Prior to this, the need for finance was limited, so there was no charge for our supporters. Dublin Cycling Campaign has had paid membership since its early days, and the Irish Cycling Campaign, formerly Cyclist.ie, which lobbies on national issues, has also introduced a similar membership fee.
In 2024, in order to qualify for local funding streams that do not permit applications from national organisations, Kildare County Council required Maynooth Cycling Campaign to open its own bank account and to take out insurance in its own name. The membership fee will enable us to pay for insurance and other essential expenses such as bank charges and website maintenance which supports our work locally. In particular, insurance cover is required to participate in events such as Bike Week, Picnic in the Park and the Maynooth St. Patrick’s Day parade. It is also a requirement to hire third party rooms for public meetings. If you would like to support better cycling facilities in Maynooth, contact us at maynoothcycling@gmail.com .
Bike Week 2025
Bikeweek 2025 ran from 10th -18th May. Maynooth Cycling Campaign organised three events. The key event was a screening of the film MOTHERLOAD. A small crowd enjoyed the film and discussions which followed. We are grateful to Dr. Karen Moore for leading the Nature Cycle along the Royal Canal towpath.
Cycling Without Age
We are delighted to announce that the trishaw has been serviced and is available for tours of Maynooth at the weekends and for use by St. John of God/Genil Training. We are grateful to Cycle Clinic in Dublin for carrying out the maintenance.
Cycle Path Trial on Strand Road Dublin
Last month, the Court of Appeal overruled the High Court ruling which blocked the trail of a cycle path on Strand Road Dublin on the basis that the judge had erred on several points of law and fact.
A mix of advocacy groups, social enterprises, and others have come together to make the call for the cycle path trial to go ahead. The groups include: A Playful City, Cycling Without Age, Dublin Commuter Coalition, Dublin Cycling Campaign, I Bike Dublin, Irish Doctors for the Environment, IrishCycle.com, Irish Cycling Campaign, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, and The Bike Hub.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign would like to add its support to the petition and asks its supporters and members of the public to sign the petition here. It is common practice for authorities to trail controversial changes to roads to see their effect. If the changes are positive, they are made permanent. If the impact of changes are negative, they are abandoned. In contrast, in recent years, Maynooth councillors have voted against a trial on Parson Street.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is a non-party independent local lobby in Kildare.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court judgement against the planned Strand Road cycle path trial in Dublin. The judgement was against three parties which included a group of residents and a councillor, Mannix Flynn. The scheme proposed a change in Strand Road from two way to one way for private cars in order to upgrade facilities for walking and cycling. The scheme had been through a lengthy consultation process and had been previously approved by a majority of councillors.The impact of applying to the courts was to delay the proposed active travel measures by several years.
We welcome the leadership shown by the majority Dublin councillors who rejected the opinion of residents opposing even the trialing of active travel measures.
Bike Week 2025
Bikeweek 2025 runs from 10th -18th May. Maynooth Cycling Campaign will be organising a number of events – full details will be published on this website. In particular, we wish to stress that we will be screening the award winning film MOTHERLOAD on Thursday 15th May starting at 8:00pm. We hope that you will join us and be inspired about the way some communities have tackled the climate change by looking at alternatives to the private car.
Upgrade Works on Mill Street, Maynooth
Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the continuing upgrade works on Mill Street. However, we are disappointed to see a road sign “CYCLISTS, PLEASE DISMOUNT” on the northbound side of the road. If KCC were prioritising bicycles over private cars as set out in the Design Manual for Roads and Streets (DMRS), the signs should prioritise cyclists with a sign such as “MOTORISTS GIVE WAY TO CYCLISTS”.
Cycling Without Age
We are sorry to announce that the Maynooth trishaw is off the road at present. There is a problem with the braking system which must be repaired. Maynooth Cycling Campaign has been in contact with Kildare County Council regarding the funding for the repairs.
Government Waste?
The media and politicians were very vocal on the cost of €335,000 for a bike shelter in Leinster House. Admittedly, the cost was excessive but, at least there was something to show for the expenditure. The same groups haven’t been so vocal at the revelation that over the last twenty five years €45 million has been spent on plans for a second bypass road for Galway without anything to show on the ground.
Bike Bunkers
Dublin City Council plans to appoint a contractor by the end of June to roll out some 300 bike bunkers in their administrative area. In early 22024, Maynooth Cycling Campaign held discussions with Kildare County Council about trialing a single bike bunker in the town. More than one year later, Maynooth County Campaign had no progress to report.
Last month, Maynooth Cycling Campaign announced that we would be screening the award winning film MOTHERLOAD in May. Make a note in your diary! We are delighted to announce that it will be screened at 8:00pm on Thursday 15th May as part of Bikeweek 2025. The venue will be confirmed at a later date.
The film will be of particular interest to people who may be considering a cargo bicycle instead of a second car and who would like more information of what a Bike Library may offer.
In January, two people lost their lives in Storm Éowyn and the financial damage is estimated to be in the range of €300M.
In March, Professor Peter Thorne from Maynooth University’s Icarus Climate Research Centre appeared on RTE’s Nine O’Clock News. He stated that ‘Governments have to act now. If we don’t, things will get worse very very quickly …….. The temperature rise is not linear- its impacts are very non-linear. They are going to increase very quickly.’
The Climate Change Advisory Council stated that the government must invest now to rapidly improve its preparedness and ability to respond to extreme weather events. It called on the government to stop procrastination on the decisions that are needed.
The Climate Change Advisory Council in conjunction with the Fiscal Council and Climate Change Advisory Council also recently issued a joint report. Their report, ‘A colossal missed opportunity‘, sets out potential costs for Ireland from missing agreed EU targets. These could amount to staggering payments of between €8bn and €26bn to Europe.
In view of the rejection by Maynooth MD councillors of measures to increase bike use in the Maynooth & Environs Local Area Plan (LAP), perhaps the political parties will indicate who they think should pay the cost of larger fines – people who supported additional permeability measures to promote cycling under the LAP or people who opposed the measures?
Increase in Private Cars
In the Irish Republic, between 2000 and 2020, the number of private vehicles registered for tax rose by 63% from 1,319,250 to 2,215,1127. No one was asked to approve this increase. No one was asked about the impact on road accidents or road fatalities. No one was asked about the worsening air and noise pollution. Yet people are getting in a twist over a relatively small increase in the number of cyclists.
KCC & the Sustainable Transport Forum
When Kildare County Council abolished the Kildare Cycle Forum, it announced that the forum would be incorporated into a new Sustainable Transport Forum (STF). It took some two years for the Transport Strategic Policy Committee to establish the new forum. During the term of the last council, the last STF meeting took place in February 2024. The minutes from that meeting have still not been circulated.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is particularly interested in the minutes as we were able to raise an issue of particular interest and importance concerning climate targets. We are waiting to see if the minutes will refer to the matter. Since the local government elections in May 2024, the Transport SPC has met once in February but the re-establishment of the Sustainable Transport Forum was not on the agenda. It suggests that a forum of sustainable transport stakeholders is not a high priority of Kildare County Council.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is a non-party independent local lobby group in Kildare.
A further meeting of the Clane-Maynooth Municipal District took place on 17th February regarding the Maynooth LAP. Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the recommendations from the Office of the Planning Regulator that the deleted permeability links must be consistent with the government and local authority policy framework, and strongly disagree with the non-acceptance of the recommendation by local councillors.
The IrishCycle.com website reports that Dublin City Council has launched an Active Travel portal to report progress on active travel schemes and their resulting impact on levels of walking and cycling. The European Cycling Federation stresses that monitoring and reporting progress (or lack of it) is an essential element of managing change in modes of travel.
We know that in recent years Kildare County Council has spent in excess of €60,000 on data loggers to record pedestrians and cyclists movements but has failed to publish any results. Maynooth Cycling Campaign previously attempted to raise this at meetings of the Transportation Strategic Policy Committee but was repeatedly blocked by the then Chair, Cllr. Joe Neville. Hopefully they will reconsider their stance and follow Dublin’s lead.
MOTHERLOAD
MOTHERLOAD is a prize winning American made film about cargo bikes and their impact on communities. It also deals with a number of associated themes including sustainability, green transportation, feminism and women’s empowerment, connecting to nature, and childhood and parenting.
Last year, Maynooth Cycling Campaign purchased the right to screen the film but the screening didn’t proceed for a variety of reasons. We are delighted to announce that we will be showing it later this year – in May. To get a taste of the film, you can view the official trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkklZNE9S-g .
Purchase of American Cars
The US president, Donald Trump, and his appointee, Elon Musk, have been making headlines on a wide range of issues. One of the areas which the president has highlighted is the imbalance in manufacturing trade between Europe and the US and specifically in the areas of cars. In Europe, cars are smaller in size and, with fuel prices much more expensive, offer greater fuel efficiency than American models. Bigger cars are also a threat to the public. According to the OECD, in the US the fatality rate per 100,000 population is four times higher than the Irish rate. While no single factor is responsible for the difference in fatality rates, size is at least partially responsible.
Even some new American electric cars cannot compete on the European markets. Egon Musk’sTesla’s Cyber-Truck model, which has been banned in the UK, is not in accordance with European safety standards in relation to weight, lighting, finish or crumple zones. As proponents of active travel, we support increased walking and cycling, and less cars. In 2022, the US exported 16% of their cars to Europe but if Trump/Musk want to increase this percentage, they must meet European safety standards. Irish roads are already too dangerous for active travel users – we do not need to increase this danger.
Upgrade Works on Mill Street, Maynooth
Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the commencement of upgrade works to provide improved facilities for walking and cycling on Mill Street. Mill Street is a key retail destination with Manor Mills Shopping Centre as well as other retail premises. It is also a key link between Moyglare Road and Leinster Street for children attending schools to the north of the town.
More than 10 years ago, pupils from St. Mary’s Boys School wrote to Kildare County Council to complain about aggression from motorists on Mill Street. While there has been some improvement over the years with the addition of bollards during Covid, it has taken this long to provide a comprehensive solution.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is a non-party independent local lobby group advocating for better cycling infrastructure in Kildare.
Is the Railpark housing estate the worst place to live in Maynooth? (Spoiler: It isn’t.) Then why, at a number of public meetings during the summer, did some Maynooth residents imply a feature that is working well in Railpark would mean a host of problems if applied to other areas?
The meetings were called to discuss the impact of proposals in the Maynooth and Environs Local Area Plan 2025-29. The Local Area Plan (LAP) covers a broad range of issues related to the future development of Maynooth. It includes proposals that are designed to contribute to Ireland meeting its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. However, many of the discussions focused on pedestrian and cycling permeability – the retrofitting of active travel access through existing adjacent developments, mainly housing estates.
One such proposal linked the Kilcock Road and Crewhill — a new high-density development to the north-west of the town via Maynooth University and the unconnected residential estates of Moyglare Abbey and Moyglare Village.
It was claimed that retrofitting an active travel access would lead to increased anti-social behaviour and increased littering. One attendee quoted an unnamed member of the Garda Síochána who had warned that opening up estates would lead to increased crime. It was claimed that a direct link between Moyglare Abbey and the university would lead to Moyglare Abbey turning into a car park for students. But no such link was even proposed in the LAP. Concerns were also expressed that the openings would be so wide that cars would also be able to use them and that drivers would not see cyclists at a junction due to inadequate sightlines. (For clarity – cars will not be able to use the access points.)
This proposal was designed to provide an alternative to Moyglare Road where, at peak times, there is heavy congestion on crowded footpaths, and many secondary school students cycle on the road instead of an adjacent shared path. At school closing time, traffic queues stretch to nearly a kilometre from the Kilcock Road junction to beyond the GAA clubhouse. It was pointed out that improving permeability would be good for health by reducing air and noise pollution. The high level of traffic congestion would also be reduced, but the mood of the majority who attended the meeting was to oppose the permeability links regardless of any benefits that they might bring.
The irony is that Maynooth residents don’t have to go too far to see good examples of active travel permeability. Most of the estates off the Straffan Road are permeable. On the west side, Kingsbry, Beaufield and Greenfield estates are linked. Parson Hall and Ashleigh are also linked. On the east side, Railpark estate is particularly good as it is linked to both Rockfield and Parklands, as well as having a pedestrian link to the Straffan Road.
If the fears expressed by Moyglare residents are valid, Railpark must be the worst place to live in Maynooth. In fact, it is estates like Moyglare Abbey and Moyglare Hall that are badly designed in regard to mobility. So, the LAP presents a rare opportunity to mitigate the poor outcomes of past planning decisions.
Public consultations are an important part of local democracy. However, democracy is not just about the number of submissions for and against a scheme. The proposal to provide greater permeability and increase active travel has implications for climate change and road safety as well as health in Maynooth. This concerns all the people of Maynooth and not just those who reside close to the proposed openings. The provision of permeability links is a very modest proposal to reduce our carbon emissions.
The backdrop to this includes Ireland still recovering from one of its most severe storms that was linked to two deaths, other European countries suffering extreme climate events involving multiple fatalities, and 2024 was confirmed as the warmest year on record globally. It’s also at a time when the consensus between Europe and the USA on climate is under threat like never before.
Given that the addition of a “relatively” small number of people cycling and walking provokes such opposition from people who are opposed to change and happy with the current status quo, then what will happen when people are asked to make major changes to their lifestyle?
In a recent appeal against a refusal for a proposed wind farm in Laois, the High Court stated that “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes to all aspects of society and the economy” and “an immediate end to business as usual” by consenting authorities is required to cut greenhouse gas emissions and ensure planetary survival.
Maynooth University is an important institution in the town. It is one of the Irish universities that is noted for research on climate change and lecturers there collaborate with their international colleagues. It is disappointing that the university authorities did not consider the LAP important enough to make a submission. It is particularly disappointing as the university is also the biggest single generator of traffic in the town.
Ireland was fortunate to rely on expert medical advice during the Covid epidemic rather than on non-experts. Expert advice on the LAP from the university authorities could have reassured a lot of people who are fearful of or opposed to change.
Local councillors are responsible for approving Local Area Plans, and while they have a responsibility to represent the views of the public, they also have a responsibility to show leadership. Central government ministers and their departments primarily fund local government. Central government also sets down national policies so their views cannot be ignored by local government.
Prior to Christmas 2024, in their submission of amendments to the Draft LAP, the Office of the Planning Regulator, which reviews the performance of planning authorities, recommended that all the permeability links deleted by councillors be reinstated. However, on February 17th, at the meeting of the municipal district on the LAP, councillors voted to proceed with deleting 12 of the 34 walking links and 1 of the 3 cycle links that had been proposed to be abandoned.
With only five years until the next local government elections and one year after that to the 2030 target of a 50% reduction in carbon emissions, the decisions of current councils nationwide will decide where Ireland will stand by the key target date. Kildare is just the latest council to demonstrate the disconnect between government policy and the actions of local councillors. Many groups and individuals will be watching to see how this saga plays out.
This article was edited post publishing to correct an error in the numbers of links for abandonment.
The LAP has not yet been finalised. The amended LAP with the removal by councillors of most permeability measures went to public consultation last autumn.. The Chief Executive’s report noted the recommendation of the Planning Regulator to reinstate the measures and recommended that Proposed Material Alteration No. 33 should not be adopted by councillors
Transport is one of the most contentious sections of the LAP. Maynooth University is one of the primary generators of traffic in the town and, at the same time, is involved in research on climate change. It is particularly disappointing that the University authorities failed to make a submission on either the draft or amended Maynooth and Environs LAP.
Climate Change
In January, fierce wildfires in the Los Angeles area of California caused more than 28 deaths and billions of dollars in damages to buildings. Fires are a normal risk to California during the summer months but this is the first time that they have been so serious during the winter season. Meanwhile In Arizona, Phoenix has had no rain since last August and groundwater supplies are so depleted that the state announced that all future housing developments in the desert would have to find some other source of water – either by purchasing or importing their supply. January 2025 also saw Donald Trump sworn in as American president for the second time. Among his first executive orders, one was for the United States to give notice of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on limiting climate change. We shall see if his policy of “Drill, baby, drill” will end up as “Burn, baby burn”.
Ireland has not escaped weather extremes either – with Storm Eowyn causing one death and nearly 20% of the population being left without power north and south. In the future something that will affect people everywhere is the increased cost of insurance. Insurance companies are facing a greater risk of extreme weather and will require higher premiums to enable higher payouts.
“An Immediate End to Business As Usual“
In a challenge to a decision of An Bord Pleanála to refuse an application for the construction of a proposed wind farm in County Laois, the High Court delivered a judgment quashing the decision and sending it back to the Bord for a fresh determination.
In a decision which will have implication for many future developments, the High Court has stated that “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes to all aspects of society and the economy” and “an immediate end to business as usual” by consenting authorities is required to cut GHG emissions and ensure planetary survival. The Court went on to find that the pattern of refusals of proposed windfarm developments is “sabotaging” the compliance by the State with its national and international climate commitments.
Programme for Government
Maynooth Cycling Campaign congratulates Darragh O’Brien who has been appointed as the new Minister for Transport. However, it is disappointing that the agreed Programme for Government has reduced the focus on active travel which includes cycling and instead has emphasised the construction of new roads.
Road Fatalities
The provisional figures for road fatalities in Ireland in 2024 was 174. Under the RSA definition of road fatalities, this excludes cyclists who die more than two days after the collision or other incident. While the Road Safety Authority has spun this outcome as a 4% reduction, the figure was still the worst since 2016.
In order to reduce the number of fatalities, the government has announced that default speed limits will be reduced on urban and rural roads in 2025, Changes to the default speed limit on rural roads will be reduced from 80 kph to 60 kph on 7th February. It is proposed that the default speed limit in urban roads will be reduced later in the year. Local councillors will still have the power to retain higher speed limits if it is decided to be appropriate.
Cycling Without Age – St Brigid’s Day
This year the government has introduced a new public holiday celebrating the life of St. Brigid’s. As part of the festivities, Maynooth Cycling Campaign has been asked to take part in a Pedal Parade in Sallins on Monday 3rd February at 11:30am which promotes active travel. If you are attending the parade, we hope that you will give a shout to the Maynooth Cycling Without Age trishaw. More details are available here.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign is a non-party independent local lobby group advocating for better cycling infrastructure in Kildare.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign 