I am very pleased that this matter is being taken on the Adjournment today. Since I was elected to Dublin City Council in 1974, I have sought consistently to have facilities for cyclists in the city of Dublin improved. I am sorry to say I cannot report any major successes but in my usual determined way I have kept at it. I am glad to say that since the election of the new Dublin City Council last June, things are going in favour of cyclists in the city.
Dublin is an ideal city for cyclists. We do not as yet have sprawling suburbs and people have short distances to travel. We also have the added advantage that it is not a hilly city. Anyone who cycles will appreciate the added difficulties presented by terrain that is particularly hilly.
Since I first put down this motion we have a new Minister for the Environment who, as we know, has just finished a very successful term as Minister for Health. This motion will endear itself to the Minister for the Environment and I am sure that he will provide whatever help he can with regard to cycling facilities. I realise that this motion is in the domain of the Office of Public Works but I have no doubt that with the new enthusiasm in Dublin City Council for the facilities I am calling for and with the Minister for the Environment aware of the health benefits of cycling, the Department of the Environment will be sympathetic to the moves which Dublin Corporation are now making with great energy and enthusiasm to improve the lot of cyclists in the city of Dublin.
Being a cyclist I know it is a form of exercise which is integrated into our daily lives, unlike other excellent forms of exercise such as jogging, aerobics, etc. for which one has to find time. Cycling has the great advantage that as well as being a healthy pastime, you can get around the city with great speed. It is a very attractive form of transport. One of the great disincentives to cycling is the danger factor. This is particularly important from the point of view of children. If we had adequate facilities they could use their bicyles to go to and from school whereas now their parents drive them to school. This not only increases pollution and takes up their time but it also jams the road in the mornings when traffic is at its worst.
The dangers to cyclists from traffic is commensurate with the speed of traffic. I cycle around the city regularly and am not unduly perturbed when I mingle with traffic which is travelling at a limited speed, but recently I had occasion to bring my motor car to Blackrock. I put my bicycle on the back and I had to pedal back to the city along the Merrion Road. Juggernauts travelling at high speed constantly passed me and, for the first time, I was frightened on a bicycle. I was terrified that if I wobbled, as one can do quite easily trying to avoid a pothole, I could fall under a juggernaut in no time. It is important that facilities for cyclists be provided on major roads.
The motor vehicle is given priority in transport planning. That procedure should change. It has changed to the extent that we are much more concerned and considerate of our pedestrians. However, our transport planners both in Dublin Corporation and in the Department of the Environment, are inclined to consider cyclists as an impediment who slow down traffic and interfere with the free flow of the motor vehicle traffic. As I said, that thinking is now changing.
Cycling not only relieves congestion but it conserves energy and avoids pollution. It is the most environmentally friendly way of getting around the city. During the Taoiseach's very successful six months of the European Presidency, he announced that he would like to have a Green Presidency. I made a small and modest contribution to that by riding my bicycle at all times when coming into the city. If everyone did that we would make a genuine contribution to the Environment.
The Minister might ask why I expect the Office of Public Works to weigh in and do the job when the corporation have done so little. I accept that criticism but we have done what we can given our limited resources. We were not able to carry through some of the objectives of the 1980 development plan due to lack of resources. We insist that all new buildings and developments should have cycle parks and we have put up a small number — not nearly enough in my view — of cycle parks throughout the city. Stealing bicycles is another disincentive to cycling.
I greatly regret and resent the fact that the Department of the Environment pay the entire cost of the three categories of roads and they will only make a contribution to a cycling facility if it is included in the construction of a road. When the Stillorgan Dual Carriageway was being constructed I tabled a motion which the corporation and city council agreed to, that a cycling facility be included. One may ask where is it. It was installed but the lights were changed and various signs were put up but the Department of the Environment were worried about some technicalities and felt it would not give the cyclist enough protection. I am happy to say that when Dublin Corporation adopted their estimates the other night the council agreed to include in these very hard times of cutbacks, £50,000 for that cycleway. We hope the Minister for the Environment will soon give it the go ahead.
In our current development plan we are including general statements that priority will be given to cyclists wherever possible. We have commissioned and are about to receive a report from a special section in the corporation regarding an integrated network of cycling facilities. I am sure the Minister will agree that a facility here and there is not much use. What we need is a proper integrated network. This is where the cycle facility round St. Stephen's Green comes in. Given the shortage of funds, it should be remembered that cycling is a cheap form of transport. The costs are minimal compared with the macro-costs of Eastern by-passes, major motorways, roads, etc. I am convinced that we will come up with quite an attractive package of facilities for cyclists.
Taxpayers contribute to transport facilities in the city but many of them do not benefit from them. Most people could afford to buy a bicycle and use it as a form of transport. Substantial funding will be made available to the corporation for cycling facilities because a decision was taken at our estimates meeting to use the income from the increased parking meter rates around the city for that purpose. I hope that, as a result, we will be in a position to go ahead with many of the facilities we wish to put in place.
A one-way system is extremely unattractive to a cyclist because it means one has to go a very long way round if one is a law-abiding citizen. I happen to live in the Leeson Street area. I come down Lower Leeson Street and find myself on St. Stephen's Green. Most of my trips are to Leinster House and I am faced with a problem when I get to the junction of Earlsfort Terrace, St. Stephen's Green and Lower Leeson Street. Will I slip onto the footpath and go round or will I be law-abiding and come the whole way around the Green? The additional length I have to go if I am law-abiding is not very great but the problem is the danger for the cyclist. I am at the bottom of Leeson Street, on the left hand side of the road, and the traffic is converging fairly fast onto St. Stephen's Green. Sooner or later I must make my way from the left side of St. Stephen's Green, the Canada House side of Earlsfort Terrace, to the right hand side of St. Stephen's Green if I wish to come down the west side along by the College of Surgeons. I assure the Minister that is an extremely hazardous undertaking. When I come to the Seanad I very often pull up on to the very wide path which is around St. Stephen's Green. There are very few pedestrians there and without incommoding any pedestrian one can quietly make one's way around until one gets to the top of Kildare Street, Dawson Street or wherever. I know the Minister is very familiar with Dublin and realises the width of the path around St. Stephen's Green between the railings of the path and the chains and bollards on the outside. There is plenty of room for a cycle way to be included there and there would be no conflict between cyclists and pedestrians.
I do not know if one is allowed in the Seanad to show a photograph, but I have a photograph of something which at a quick glance looks extraordinarily like St. Stephen's Green. It has a park on the left——
