Kildare | Maynooth Cycling Campaign

Mill Street Cycle Track

Maynooth Cycling Campaign is very concerned about the two recent accidents which have occurred on the newly completed dedicated cycle track in Mill Street. Cyclists do not move from a straight to a straight via a sharp angle. Instead they transition via a curve. The Mill Street cycle track has been constructed with what looks like an overly sharp angle. Practice in the Netherlands (example here) and in England (example here) show where cycle tracks change direction, the transition is provided as a curve. A safety audit should be carried out immediately to ensure that there are no further injuries.

NTA Allocation

The NTA has announced their 2026 allocation from the Department of Transport to local authorities. A total of €360 million has been allocated for active travel schemes. Kildare County Council has been allocated €9.5 million which is less than last year and makes no allowance for inflation. Among the projects receiving funding is Mill Street (€1.7 million), Royal Canal Greenway (€0.6 million), Celbridge Road (€1.0 million) and Maynooth Educate Together Safe Routes to School (€20,000). Maynooth Cycling Campaign especially welcomes the funding for Celbridge Road which is long overdue.

Road Fatalities – National

The end-of-year figures for road fatalities were published and make grim reading. One hundred and ninety people were killed on Irish roads in 2025. This was an increase of 15, or 8.5%, over 2024, which was also an increase on the previous year. The number of cyclists killed increased from 12 to 14 (16.6%). In 2025, cyclist fatalities doubled compared to 2022. While there has been a big reduction in fatalities compared to the 1990s, in recent years this trend has been reversed despite increased provision of higher-quality infrastructure. There is no information on serious injuries in 2025. As far as we are aware, the Road Safety Authority is still resolving its problem with public access.

Road Fatalities – Kildare

The RSA Provisional Review of Fatalities (2025) lists seven fatalities in Kildare, although the figures are not up to date. In Kildare County Council, “ Safety” used to be included in the title of a Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) formerly titled Transport, Safety and Emergency Services. “Road Safety” featured in a number of agendas for SPC meetings under the item “Road Safety, Cycling and Sustainable Transport,” but there has never been any review of previous year’s road fatalities in Kildare – with one exception. That was in 2019 when Maynooth Cycling Campaign brought it to the attention of the Chair of the Kildare Cycle Forum. He put it on the agenda of the Forum and included it in the agenda of the SPC so that Kildare fatalities were at least noted.

Judge James O’Donohoe’s Description of Cyclists

There has been a lot of controversy over the recent comments of Judge James O’Donohoe, who, while presiding over a case examining liability in a crash between a cyclist and a motorcyclist, described Dublin cyclists as a “nightmare.”

The chair of the Irish Cycling Campaign, Neasa Bheilbigh, responded: “As a mother who cycles with her children, I find it alarming that a judge would so clearly and openly outline personal biases toward people who cycle. Generalisations like this are dangerous.” Condemnation of the judge’s remarks by Ciaran Cannon, the President of Cycling Ireland, has also been widely circulated.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said in the Dáil that Judge James O’Donohoe’s comments and further generalisations are “wrong,” adding that he rejects “any stereotyping of cyclists.” The remarks were also criticised by the Social Democrats and the Labour Party. The Labour Party transport spokesperson, Ciaran Ahern TD, has indicated that he proposes to submit a formal complaint to the Judicial Council. This is the same Judge James O’Donohoe who previously pleaded guilty to refusing to take a breathalyser test and was subsequently fined €600.

Funding for Local Climate Action

In December, Maynooth Cycling Campaign lodged an application for funding with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for two climate-related projects. The first was to purchase a wheelchair trailer to offer Cycling Without Age (CWA) cycles to people who are wheelchair dependent. The second project was to offer the community the loan of FollowMe/Gator tow bars to link the bike of a parent and a young child. The outcome of the application is not expected until March. If you have a small child who is unable to cycle on their own and who restricts the opportunity for the rest of the family to cycle, the Gator tow bar may be of benefit. Find out how it works here.

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.. If you would like to support our efforts, we welcome new members. Why not join us? You can find details here.

Are there Killer Orcas on the Dublin Road?

Dublin Road Maynooth

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 45^o 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 in 2019 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.