Comment & Analysis: Richard ­Shakespeare is Dublin City Council’s new CEO, and he has shown little signs of being anything beyond a mild-mannered public servant. But he has drawn attention for saying he’d make it “a little more difficult for motorists” if that meant a better future. In a recent interview with The Irish Times, Shakespeare said: “Everyone is all for climate change except where it affects them. Any time we try to lever people and force them to make those choices, they give out murder…” Shakespeare said: “If you really want a future for your children and your grandchildren, you need to start taking action sooner rather than later. If I can facilitate that by making it a little more difficult for motorists, along with the vast sums of money being invested in active travel and walking, well then that’s exactly what I’ll do.” That line made it into the article’s headline as follows: “Dublin City Council’s new chief: ‘If I can help climate efforts by making it a little more difficult for motorists, well then that’s what I’ll do’”. The article also covered the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan, which, depending on who you ask, is either unfair to motorists or the key to ramping up priority for public space, walking, cycling, and public transport. Some people who are against the plan are focusing squarely on the cycling elements, but the project is key to getting buses moving. The importance of the O’Connell Bridge area alone justifies the planned bus gates — the CEO of Dublin Bus said so. It’s also plain to see with the volume of city, regional, and national buses passing by the area. It might help that Shakespeare is a bus user. Unlike the former Dublin City Council CEO, who was apparently a cyclist who was often pictured with high-visibility clothing and a helmet, it was hard to get away from it. ​Today, Eoin O’Malley, a columnist for the Sunday Independent and public policy lecturer at Dublin City University, argued in his column today that “Because so much of climate action is framed negatively, it ignores the benefits that those actions can deliver” and that “Shakespeare might have said it better if he told people who are currently driving to work that he is working on a plan that will save them the time spent sitting in traffic and the cost of having to own a car.” Of course, only a part of an in-depth interview will get published, so Shakespeare could have also said what he said in a milder way. We have to be clear that giving priority to sustainable transport is firm climate action. And clear that there are so many benefits besides. As O’Malley points to the famous cartoon by Joel W Pett. It shows a member of an audience of a climate summit asking, “What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?”. The screen behind the presenter lists the benefits — energy independence, preserving rainforests, sustainability, green jobs, livable cities, renewables, clean water and air, healthy children, etc. etc. In fairness, this is already a focus of the city council. They aren’t focused on just carbon reduction, but looking at a more liveable city, safer streets (both in terms of road safety and streets that are vibrant), cleaner air, less noise, and healthy residents, including children. O’Malley also argues that “Government policy should focus exclusively on those measures that can make people’s lives better in the short to medium term. They will have long-term positive impacts that our children and grandchildren will thank us for, but not impose unbearable costs on current generations.” That’s hard to disagree with. Climate action on transport needs to be as fair as possible. But we also need to be honest: change is hard. Change is difficult to accept, and some people won’t accept the change even with a range of benefits. We can see that on IrishCycle.com weekly, where people who are focused on driving see basic road safety measures such as narrowing traffic lanes as an infringement of their human rights. Even when the policy was democratically agreed upon by councillors, councillors deny it and blame it on everybody else. No city has the perfect public transport system before it starts to push cars out, and there’s no pain-free way of getting to a more sustainable, more liveable city.

From the 15th to the 19th of April we've got the Tour of the Alps on the road. This is the single most important run-up race ahead of the Giro d'Italia and sees five days of racing in the Alps with the mountains always looming in the background. We preview the race ahead. The first day of the race t...

Completing his set of Amstel Gold Race podiums, Tom Pidcock has added victory in 2024 to his 3rd place in 2023 and that controversial 2nd back in 2021, following a thrilling final sprint for the line. Entering the final kilometre alongside Tiesj Benoot, Marc Hirschi and Mauri Vansevenant, Pidcock wa...

Many had high hopes for Mattias Skjelmose going into the 2024 Amstel Gold Race. Sadly for the Dane, 17th was the best he could manage this Sunday afternoon. What was the cause of this slightly disappointing finish? Waiting too long according to the Lidl-Trek leader himself. "We let too many ride and...

Cal Tutty (Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster) and Seth Dunwoody (Cannibal B Victorious) have both put in very strong performances on the final day of action at the Penn Ar Bed-Pays d’Iroise (2.1). Tutty, already an Irish international in his first season as a junior last year, took off from the bunch today in the closing […] The post Tutty and Dunwoody put in strong rides in French UCI-ranked race appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Marianne Vos has powered to victory at Amstel Gold Race Ladies 2024 after a dramatic bunch sprint decided the day, benefitting from a premature celebration by Lorena Wiebes. After an early neutralisation due to an incident involving a car up ahead of the race, the race was considerably shortened, ma...

Seth Dunwoody (Cannibal B Victorious) has continued his ascent on the European scene with another top result in France today just a week after being active off the front of Paris-Roubaix Juniors in the final before taking 12th place. The 17-year-old has now put himself in a great position to repeat one of his stand-out […] The post Seth Dunwoody’s ascent continues with another top result in France appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

How to beat Mathieu van der Poel is the question on the mind's of many at the start of Amstel Gold Race, and also the question asked to many of the favourites. Maxim van Gils on his end, believes everything is possible in Dutch roads. “We had to get up early and I'm normally not a morning person, bu...

Sun, April 14th: PJ Logan Cup Coalisland, Co Tyrone Promoted by Island Wheelers A1-A2 Race Unplaced A2 A3 Race Leading Women A4 Race Leading Woman The post Results in full, all races, PJ Logan Cup 2024, Co Tyrone appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Having controversially been denied victory in a photo-finish back in 2021, Tom Pidcock finally got himself onto the top step of the Amstel Gold Race podium in 2024 after a thrilling edition of the Dutch classic.Although Mathieu van der Poel started the race as the hot favourite, the world champion a...