Dublin City Council Cycling Officer position renewed for 6 months.

Bluefoam

Sent!

Also sent to the Department of the Environment and Dublin City Counselors...

Yi Harr

Haven't seen it posted in thread and just in case some here aren't on the DCC mailing list, who want to email regarding the position being abandoned, here's the suggested email text Dublin Cycling Campaign sent out:


Dear Councillor/TD,

We abhor the failure of Dublin City Council (DCC) to find funding to continue the contract of the Cycling Officer. We understand that the Cycling Officer's position has been funded up to now by the Department of the Environment, Communications and Local Government, but this contract ceases on January 5th.
A Cycling Officer is needed not only to represent the interests of the increasing number of Dubliners who already cycle, but to rapidly increase modal share, by:

• Co-ordinating & guiding DCC policy towards increasing cycling, e.g. by reviewing draft policy documents like the Development Plan and contributing to the Transport Strategic Policy Committee, etc.;
• As an engineer, counteracting the mindset of roads engineers who have been trained in outmoded, car-based transport principles;
• Publicly promoting cycling, as done very successfully with the recent family-oriented Sky Ride, when 10,000 Dubliners took to their bikes in the city and gave an enthusiastic response.

We in the Campaign have developed an excellent working relationship with the current Officer, but all citizens can see the tangible results. Due to bigger cycling numbers, Dublin's streets are now quieter, less congested and, most importantly, safer for ALL road users.
The background to this issue is the mystifying way transport has developed in Ireland:

• How is it that our roads have been made unsafe for kids to cycle to school, when over 300,000 of our children are overweight or obese?
• How is it that, with car ownership now costing over €10,000 per year, and a crazy 40% of short trips being made by car, we're not energetically pushing this low-cost transport mode?
• Why is our Department of the Environment apparently reducing funding, when research published last week showed that high cycling numbers could make a huge dent in Europe's greenhouse gas emissions?
• Are we really content to simply continue to sit in traffic jams? A Dublin Underground is not going to materialise any time soon. Cycling is a quick, easy, very cheap answer to congestion.

It's clear (and it's in the Government's own Cycle Policy Framework) that there should be not only a Dublin Cycling Officer, but an Cycling Tsar or team at Government level, and one in every Local Authority in the State. Departments of Health and Children, Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Environment all bear responsibility here. Yes, budgets are tight, but with a 20 to 1 return on investment in cycling (the huge health benefits to the population allow immense savings), it's crazy to penny-pinch professional's salary.
Indeed, we would be very interested to see DCC's cost/benefit analysis of the decision to end this contract, given that its Transportation division expenditure was €73 million for 2010, and the Dublin Bikes scheme alone brings in €400,000. Funding is not the problem here, it's ill-informed and regressive thinking.

Sincerely,

---

MEMBER of DUBLIN CYCLING CAMPAIGN


The list of Councillors email addresses can be found here.

greenmat

Link to Facebook page, re protest at Dublin Civic Offices, wood Quay, this Tuesday at 1pm - 2pm. Is this info worthy of another thread? I'll leave that to others to decide. Going out for a spin at 10am tomorrom morning will finish in the city for the protest.

Ring your Bell to Save the Cycling Officer position with Dublin City Council which is being terminated this week. Bring your Santa hat.






https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/238173339589281/

BostonB

Man thats an awkward time and place.

greenmat

BostonB wrote: »

Man thats an awkward time and place.

Just seen it on Facebook now, very short notice but they intend to let him go this week. Anyone working in town could make it on their lunch break if interested. Reason for the venue is because it's the head offices of D.C.C.

galwaycyclist

This campaign by the Dublin Cycling Campaign appears to have moved from being a campaign in support of Ciaran Fallon to being some kind of campaign in support of cycling officers.

This is not something that would have the support of other cycle campaigns

The reason Ciaran Fallon is being defended is because he is seen, by the Dublin Cycling Campaign, as being a good appointment. If he had been a bad appointment nobody would be crying over the termination of his job.

In my view the people calling for his reinstatement need to be very clear what they are calling for. At this time it is not even clear to me, looking at the text above, that they are calling for his reinstatement?

cyclopath2001

Bluefoam wrote: »

Like I said, you should contact your council, this is their responsibility. Or do you think the council should be fired for this same reason...

The council responsible is Dublin City Council, and despite having a very respected and talented person in the role of making cycling policy, these policies are ineffective in providing properly designed, maintained and useful cycling facilities. Anyone who cycles in Dublin would know that.

If the role of 'cycling officer' is ineffective at securing basic facilities, why do we need to retain it? I think this is what the mandarins have seen.

QueensGael

Email sent to the good and great of DCC, the ministers for health, transport and the environment, and the taoiseach himself (he's a cyclist, afterall)

kumate_champ07

on newstalk radio now

galwaycyclist

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

The council responsible is Dublin City Council, and despite having a very respected and talented person in the role of making cycling policy, these policies are ineffective in providing properly designed, maintained and useful cycling facilities. Anyone who cycles in Dublin would know that.

If the role of 'cycling officer' is ineffective at securing basic facilities, why do we need to retain it? I think this is what the mandarins have seen.

I suspect that lack of effectiveness is not the reason for terminating the position. Equally however I fail to see how the mere appointment of "cycling officers" is going to deliver anything either. Certainly in the absence of a defined, and appropriate, framework for such a role I cannot see how funding such positions is inherently a good thing.

Indeed in the current environment it may act to reinforce bad practice. In such a case we may be better off having no cycling officers rather than having an inappropriate model imposed on the country.

-Chris-

galwaycyclist wrote: »

I suspect that lack of effectiveness is not the reason for terminating the position. Equally however I fail to see how the mere appointment of "cycling officers" is going to deliver anything either. Certainly in the absence of a defined, and appropriate, framework for such a role I cannot see how funding such positions is inherently a good thing.

Indeed in the current environment it may act to reinforce bad practice. In such a case we may be better off having no cycling officers rather than having an inappropriate model imposed on the country.

Would you not rather have funding for the position and campaign for a reasonable framework rather than reject the position for the lack of a framework?

Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me.

galwaycyclist

-Chris- wrote: »

Would you not rather have funding for the position and campaign for a reasonable framework rather than reject the position for the lack of a framework?

Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me.

No that would be putting carts before horses. If this position has been a success, and it is not clear that it has been, then I think it would be useful to analyse why that was.

But to argue that cycling officers should be appointed to other local authorities because one appointee is percieved to have done a good job is to insult peoples intelligence in my view.

Try googling "confessions of a cycling officer" for the other side of the story.

If we are employing cycling officers I want to know who pays them? Who do they report to? What is their remit? Who defines the brief for the job? What qualifications do we require? What training do they get and provided by whom?

Bear in mind that in most cases if we get the wrong person in the job we won't be able to nominate them to the European Court of Auditors. Having the right person stuck in the wrong chain of command will also be difficult to rectify.

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

If this position has been a success, and it is not clear that it has been

Why are you making this assumption. You don't even seem to understand the remit of the Cycling Officer. I find you comment both patronising and insulting to the individual in question.

If you cannot understand the way business and roles within the workplace actually operate in this century, then I suggest you take a deep breath and try to understand the situation before piping in with your negativity. It has been stated clearly by Dublin CC & the Dept of the Environment that the abandonment of the position was nothing to do with Ciaran Fallons performance or lack there of - in fact DCC have praised him in his role. I also praise him for what I have seen as a very positive role.

As I have stated before, if you want a pothole filled outside you house, contact the relevant authority - this is not the Cycling Officers job!!!

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

But to argue that cycling officers should be appointed to other local authorities because one appointee is percieved to have done a good job is to insult peoples intelligence in my view.

The development plan for transportation states that every major area of population in the country should have a cycling officer in order to achieve 15% of journeys to be completed by bicycle by 2018. In fact the plan for Dublin is to also have a Cycling Tzar. The initial phase of this (the appointment of Dublin Cycling Officer) has been deemed a success & this would suggest that Cycling Officers should be appointed to other authorities - contrary to your statement...

I think you insult your own intelligence, by not reading back though the thread to read the information people have already put forward before making your ill informed comments.

galwaycyclist

Bluefoam wrote: »

The development plan for transportation states that every major area of population in the country should have a cycling officer in order to achieve 15% of journeys to be completed by bicycle by 2018. In fact the plan for Dublin is to also have a Cycling Tzar. The initial phase of this (the appointment of Dublin Cycling Officer) has been deemed a success & this would suggest that Cycling Officers should be appointed to other authorities - contrary to your statement...

If you think I am going to give unthinking support to everything found in Government plans then you misunderstand the nature of cycle campaigning. I ask again appointed by whom? Reporting to whom? Under what remit? With what training and qualifications? People who go around calling for the appointment of cycle officers should do their research first.

If this position is deemed a success then by whom and under what criteria? Hint: emotive rants on boards don't count.

If somebody can produce evidence that it was a success then why was it a success? Would it have happened without Andrew Montague as chair of the Transport SPC? Would it have happened without the influence of Owen Keegan? If these were necessary prerequisites fhen is it a good use of money appointing people into local authorities that are much more hostile to cycling?

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

If you think I am going to give unthinking support to everything found in Government plans then you misunderstand the nature of cycle campaigning. I ask again appointed by whom? Reporting to whom? Under what remit? With what training and qualifications? People who go around calling for the appointment of cycle officers should do their research first.

If this position is deemed a success then by whom and under what criteria? Hint: emotive rants on boards don't count.

If somebody can produce evidence that it was a success then why was it a success? Would it have happened without Andrew Montague as chair of the Transport SPC? Would it have happened without the influence of Owen Keegan? If these were necessary prerequisites fhen is it a good use of money appointing people into local authorities that are much more hostile to cycling?

Again, I suggest you read back through the thread. All the info is either here, or linked...

Embarrassed for you...

galwaycyclist

Bluefoam wrote: »

Again, I suggest you read back through the thread. All the info is either here, or linked...

Embarrassed for you...

I have reread the the thread and my questions still stand. Indeed I find the need for answers to be reinforced.

Rather than attacking the wider cycle campaigning community for asking reasonable questions would you not be better off seeking our support?

cyclopath2001

Bluefoam wrote: »

As I have stated before, if you want a pothole filled outside you house, contact the relevant authority - this is not the Cycling Officers job!!!

This is a straw man argument.

The only one who has mentioned potholes is yourself.

The difficulties faced by cyclists using the city's roads go well beyond potholes. Policy change in the city council is needed to remedy them.

This has not happened.

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Rather than attacking the wider cycle campaigning community for asking reasonable questions would you not be better off seeking our support?

I wasn't attacking the wider cycle campaigning community. I was questioning you... I am a member of the wider cycling campaign community & can say unequivocally that you do not represent me or the wider community - however, you may be a member... (if you claim otherwise, please state who has evaluated you and appointed you to the role of spokesman and decision maker)

galwaycyclist, you seems to have taken a very negative approach to this topic. You claim to be focused on the greater good for cyclists, but the tone of your comments suggest that you are biased against the role of the Cycling Officer in question. I don't know why & I admit it is just an assumption, but all of your comments seem to want to discover facts as to why the CO has failed rather than trying to accept the positive effects he has had during his short time in the position.

Either way, you have failed to convince me that the abolition of an official position to represent cyclists is more beneficial to the cycling community than the abolistion of such a position. I will go further and say that the continuation of the position has the ability to benefit all road users in the long run.

Bluefoam

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Policy change in the city council is needed to remedy them.

This has not happened.

He has been in the office less than 3 years and you expect him to have changed policy entirely for your benefit within that time! This is about changing public perception and policy, it won't happen over night.

cyclopath2001

Bluefoam wrote: »

Either way, you have failed to convince me that the abolition of an official position to represent cyclists is more beneficial to the cycling community than the abolistion of such a position. I will go further and say that the continuation of the position has the ability to benefit all road users in the long run.

Maybe the problem is that it is an 'official position'?

We've had 'policies' and circuses, but no real change.

Bluefoam

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Maybe the problem is that it is an 'official position'?

We've had 'policies' and circuses, but no real change.

I have been getting the feeling from the last few posts that the agenda behind galwaycyclist & your posts are more centered around rebelling against authority than any real concern about the thread in question. Your statement above seems to confirm that.

Do you belong to any wider campaign group? or (ahem) 'ideology'?

galwaycyclist

Bluefoam wrote: »

galwaycyclist, you seems to have taken a very negative approach to this topic. You claim to be focused on the greater good for cyclists, but the tone of your comments suggest that you are biased against the role of the Cycling Officer in question. I don't know why & I admit it is just an assumption, but all of your comments seem to want to discover facts as to why the CO has failed rather than trying to accept the positive effects he has had during his short time in the position.

.

My duty is to defend the interests of the transportation cyclists of Galway. If this was a debate about keeping Ciaran Fallon in his job then I would stay out of it or even support his retention. However it is not clear that you or your colleagues actually are supporting Ciaran Fallon - which at a personal level I find strange.

Worse not only are you not personally supporting Ciaran Fallon you are calling for something to be imposed in Galway and elsewhere without any apparent consideration for how it is supposed to work? You are doing this in an campaigning environment where for years there has been deep concern about how such positions have operated over in the UK.

I am unclear how you could have expected anything other than a skeptical response.

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

:pac:

My duty is to defend the interests of the transportation cyclists of Galway. If this was a debate about keeping Ciaran Fallon in his job then I would stay out of it or even support his retention. However it is not clear that you or your colleagues actually are supporting Ciaran Fallon - which at a personal level I find strange.

Worse not only are you not personally supporting Ciaran Fallon you are calling for something to be imposed in Galway and elsewhere without any apparent consideration for how it is supposed to work? You are doing this in an campaigning environment where for years there has been deep concern about how such positions have operated over in the UK.

I am unclear how you could have expected anything other than a skeptical response.

Firstly, I have no collegues on boards.ie. Secondly, I do support Ciaran Fallon. Thirdly the tone of peoples response to this issue is primarily about the retention of the position of cycling officer, this for me is the primary objective and takes precedent over an individual retaining their job.

If the position of Cycling officer is retained, I would hope, beyond hope that Ciaran Fallon retains the position - because I believe he deserves to!

For me, this is not a campaign about an individual losing their job. It is about the importance of having a representative to lobby for the cycling community - within the system...

galwaycyclist wrote: »

My duty is to defend the interests of the transportation cyclists of Galway.

I am intrigued by this statement. Who has entrusted you with this duty?

cyclopath2001

Bluefoam wrote: »

I have been getting the feeling from the last few posts that the agenda behind galwaycyclist & your posts are more centered around rebelling against authority than any real concern about the thread in question.

I have been getting the impression from your straw man postings that you have no concern for the practical difficulties experienced by cyclists as a result of Dublin City Council policies.

The facts remain that we still have the same wrongly designed cycle tracks we had ten years ago, cars park or drive on them and cyclists continue to to be aggressed by motorists.

The role of 'cycling officer' has had no useful benefit in the light of these real needs, and has been at best, a waste of money and at worst, a way of neutralising criticism of Dublin City Councils's practices.

galwaycyclist

Bluefoam wrote: »

Firstly, I have no collegues on boards.ie. Secondly, I do support Ciaran Fallon. Thirdly the tone of peoples response to this issue is primarily about the retention of the position of cycling officer, this for me is the primary objective and takes precedent over an individual retaining their job.

If the position of Cycling officer is retained, I would hope, beyond hope that Ciaran Fallon retains the position - because I believe he deserves to!

For me, this is not a campaign about an individual losing their job. It is about the importance of having a representative to lobby for the cycling community - within the system...

Then in my view you are deeply mistaken and you have done Ciaran Fallon a disservice. If you wanted support for his retention this was not the way to go about it.

If we are being asked to support cycling officers as "representatives" then I ask again. Appointed by whom? Paid by whom? reporting to whom? With what authority? With what training? With what remit? In support of what policy objectives?

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Then in my view you are deeply mistaken and you have done Ciaran Fallon a disservice. If you wanted support for his retention this was not the way to go about it.

Do not misrepresent my opinions. I have made my views abundantly clear. I have my agenda and you have yours. Do not patronise me & tell me how I should or should not go about my business.

Even better, why don't you answer the direct questions I have asked of you, instead of avoiding them.

Slideshowbob

Galway now play their hurling in the Leinster

Beasty

OK guys this is getting a bit too personal. I'm not "instructing" anyone not to post at this time, but can I suggest certain posters just step back from the thread for a while, to let things cool off a bit

The same posters repeating their entrenched positions, and/or directing specific questiosn again and again at other posters doesn't really achieve much, and more of the same can be expected to result in sanctions

Thanks

Beasty

greenmat

Well I for one support him. He is our voice in City Hall, weather he's listened to I don't really know but at least we get a chance to express them through him to the engineers etc. D.C.C is one of the most over managed bodies in this country, were cuts next year will see more frontline services, people at the coalface, staff who make a real difference to ordinary peoples lives being pensioned off, laid off or let go while 3/4 tiers of middle/upper management sit in their offices twiddling their thumbs.

leftism

I am shocked that any person calling themselves a cycling enthusiast would be arguing against the retention of a position entitled "cycling officer"!

Regardless as to what has been achieved in the last 3 years, surely having a council representative who's sole job is to promote and advocate the benefits of cycling as both a health and transport option is a HUGE positive for all cyclists???

Or am i missing something?

Some of the negative comments posted on this thread smack of personal or political sniping from the long grass...

I don't know who Ciaran Fallon is. I don't know what his official job description was. But losing a cycling officer from ANY council should be fought tooth and nail by every cycling enthusiast who uses the roads!

Or do people honestly think that the joke that is the Dublin cycle lane network will be magically cured overnight by getting rid of this position??? :rolleyes:

tomasrojo

Did many turn up at Woodquay at 1300 today? I was thinking of going along in support of Mr. Fallon (I'm taking the assurance here that he was doing a good job as true), but I had a 21-month-old child with me and she wasn't in the mood for hanging around town for another hour.

OssianSmyth

There were about 50 people. Several photograhers and print journalists. Lord Mayor, Andrew Montague gave a great speech. Also the French woman who runs rothar spoke and Eamon Ryan

We went to ride down Fishamble Street for a photo-opp and ironically the whole street was blocked with traffic because a truck had parked in the wheelchair parking space on the corner near West Essex St.



A lot of noise was made.

You can join the Facebook group here:
http://www.facebook.com/dublincyclingofficercampaign

cyclopath2001

leftism wrote: »

I am shocked that any person calling themselves a cycling enthusiast would be arguing against the retention of a position entitled "cycling officer"!....Regardless as to what has been achieved in the last 3 years, surely having a council representative who's sole job is to promote and advocate the benefits of cycling as both a health and transport option is a HUGE positive for all cyclists???....Or am i missing something?

Tangible benefits? for example, radical changes to Dublin City Council's token cycle track network?

Without these, the role itself could become just as meaningless as most of the city council's 'Strategic Cycle Network'.

OssianSmyth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB3noJZwbtw

mambo

Don't forget to sign the petition and get your friends to sign too!
http://www.petitiononline.ie/petition/save-dublin-cycling-officer-post/1396

Bluefoam

mambo wrote: »

Don't forget to sign the petition and get your friends to sign too!
http://www.petitiononline.ie/petition/save-dublin-cycling-officer-post/1396

I have made several attempts to sign the petition, still won't work:

Internal error [117676]. Please contact the webmaster.

RobFowl

mambo wrote: »

Don't forget to sign the petition and get your friends to sign too!
http://www.petitiononline.ie/petition/save-dublin-cycling-officer-post/1396

Done and shared...

tunney

Seriously - if the DCC officer WAS responsible for the changes in dublin cycling facilitiews over the last few years he should have been fired long ago, if he wasn't then he should have resigned years ago in protest. There has been a significant number of backwards steps taken in recent years.

galwaycyclist

leftism wrote: »

I am shocked that any person calling themselves a cycling enthusiast would be arguing against the retention of a position entitled "cycling officer"!

Regardless as to what has been achieved in the last 3 years, surely having a council representative who's sole job is to promote and advocate the benefits of cycling as both a health and transport option is a HUGE positive for all cyclists???

Or am i missing something?

Some of the negative comments posted on this thread smack of personal or political sniping from the long grass...

I don't know who Ciaran Fallon is. I don't know what his official job description was. But losing a cycling officer from ANY council should be fought tooth and nail by every cycling enthusiast who uses the roads!

Or do people honestly think that the joke that is the Dublin cycle lane network will be magically cured overnight by getting rid of this position??? :rolleyes:

Yes with regret you appear unfamiliar with the field. While cities with effective cycling policies often have cycling officers, appointing a cycling officer does not automatically create an effective cycling policy.

You refer to the joke that is the Dublin cycle lane network. The blame for the construction of this in my view cannot be laid at Ciaran Fallons door. However there have been other cases elsewhere where the cycling officer was intimately associated with the construction of ridiculous and unusable cycling facilities. Cases where the "cycling officer" saw their role as being to procure cycling facilities and nothing else. There have been cases where the appointed "cycling officer" was someone who did not cycle. There have been other cases where other "Ciaran Fallons" found themselves in constant conflict with hostile and contemptuous roads engineers who just carried on with business as usual.

To paraphrase your own comments, unless we define very clearly how such positions are supposed to operate, then in my view the default assumption is to fight "tooth and nail" any suggestion that we merely appoint cycling officers to "ANY" council.

Bluefoam

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Yes with regret you appear unfamiliar with the field. While cities with effective cycling policies often have cycling officers, appointing a cycling officer does not automatically create an effective cycling policy.

You refer to the joke that is the Dublin cycle lane network. The blame for the construction of this in my view cannot be laid at Ciaran Fallons door. However there have been other cases elsewhere where the cycling officer was intimately associated with the construction of ridiculous and unusable cycling facilities. Cases where the "cycling officer" saw their role as being to procure cycling facilities and nothing else. There have been cases where the appointed "cycling officer" was someone who did not cycle. There have been other cases where other "Ciaran Fallons" found themselves in constant conflict with hostile and contemptuous roads engineers who just carried on with business as usual.

To paraphrase your own comments, unless we define very clearly how such positions are supposed to operate, then in my view the default assumption is to fight "tooth and nail" any suggestion that we merely appoint cycling officers to "ANY" council.

Can you please clarify who these cycling officers were & where these incidents occurred. I was under the impression that Ireland only ever had one cycling officer.

galwaycyclist

Bluefoam wrote: »

Can you please clarify who these cycling officers were & where these incidents occurred. I was under the impression that Ireland only ever had one cycling officer.

As I said before try googling "confessions of a cycling officer" for the other side of the story. The most accesible examples we have of what can happen come from the UK.

CramCycle

galwaycyclist wrote: »

As I said before try googling "confessions of a cycling officer" for the other side of the story. The most accesible examples we have of what can happen come from the UK.

Over here though we have only had one right? While he's not done a perfect job, he has done a good job, far better than the nobody who was there before him.

Alot of people giving out about the infrastructure that has been put in while he has been here should also remember that most of what you are talking about was decided before he was brought on and it is unlikely that he could have done anything.

On the plus side, the bad is not getting worse and in some cases there are improvements I do not believe would have been made without a cycling officer(I could be completely wrong), the grand canal path is increasing numbers, the criterium raised the profile, and we also had an official voice on the council who actually cycles and has some idea what a cyclist goes through or needs.

Even if he has the perfect answers, he is still facing typical BS from all around him in there I would imagine, the fact that he accomplished anything at all is a win in my eyes.

kuro_man

Letter in Irish Times today:

Sir, – We abhor the failure of Dublin City Council (DCC) to find funding to continue the contract of the cycling officer (Frank McDonald, Home News, December 17th). We understand the Cycling Officer’s position has been funded up to now by the Department of the Environment, but this contract ceases on January 5th.
A cycling officer is needed not only to represent the interests of the increasing number of Dubliners who already cycle, but to rapidly increase modal share, by: 1. Co-ordinating guiding DCC policy towards increasing cycling, 2. As an engineer, counteracting the mindset of roads engineers who have been trained in outmoded, car-based transport principles. 3. Publicly promoting cycling, as done very successfully with the recent family-oriented Sky Ride, when 10,000 Dubliners took to their bikes in the city.
Due to bigger cycling numbers, Dublin’s streets are now quieter, less congested and, most importantly, safer for all road users.
The background to this issue is the mystifying way transport has developed in Ireland: 1. How is it that our roads have been made unsafe for kids to cycle to school, when more than 300,000 of our children are overweight or obese? 2. How is it that, with car ownership now costing more than €10,000 per year, and a crazy 40 per cent of short trips being made by car, we’re not energetically pushing this low-cost transport mode? 3. Why is our Department of the Environment apparently reducing funding, when research published last week showed that high cycling numbers could make a huge dent in Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions? 4. Are we really content to continue sitting in traffic jams?
A Dublin underground is not going to materialise any time soon. Cycling is a quick, easy, very cheap answer to congestion.
It’s clear (and it’s in the Government’s own Cycle Policy Framework) that there should be not only a Dublin cycling officer, but a cycling tsar or team at government level, and one in every local authority. Departments of Health and Children, Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Environment all bear responsibility here. Yes, budgets are tight, but with a 20 to 1 return on investment in cycling (the huge health benefits to the population allow immense savings), it’s crazy to penny-pinch one key professional’s salary.
Indeed, we would be interested to see DCC’s cost/benefit analysis of the decision to end this contract, given that its transportation division expenditure was €73 million for 2010, and the Dublin Bikes scheme alone brings in €400,000. Funding is not the problem here, it’s ill-informed and regressive thinking. – Yours, etc,
WILL ANDREWS,
Chairman,
Dublin Cycling Campaign,
Bargy Road,
East Wall, Dublin 3.

OssianSmyth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xSEnZgpX4

manwithaplan

I thought the facts were that:

1. Ciaran Fallon is on a temporary contract
2. The renewal of temporary contracts can only happen with the consent of the parent Government Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as a result of the moratorium on public sector recruitment. That consent is not forthcoming.
3. Dublin City Council is free to appoint somebody else from within their existing staffing complement to the post, which would involve a hit being taken elsewhere in the Council's operations.

Why is everyone focused on funding? The issue is staffing, not funding. Dublin City Council appears willing to fund the post but it cannot re-appoint the incumbent. I would suggest that campaigners should either:

1. Focus their attention on the Government Departments that are blocking Mr. Fallon's reappointment (if it's Mr Fallon himself that is the issue), or
2. Focus on getting the City Council to fill the post in a way that doesn't breach the moratorium.

As an aside, I suspect there are issues in relation to the creation of a contract of indefinite duration. If Mr. Fallon's contract is renewed for more than one year, he would most likely be entitled to a CID. There are unlikely to be objective grounds for avoiding this (ie he isn't involved in a 'project' with a defined timeline - this is ongoing work). This doesn't help when trying to plead a case to Departments committed to major reductions in public service numbers.

eoglyn

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Yes with regret you appear unfamiliar with the field. While cities with effective cycling policies often have cycling officers, appointing a cycling officer does not automatically create an effective cycling policy.

Galwaycyclist - after looking back over this thread i have to wonder whether you have any understanding of how large organisations work or any appreciation of how to affect institutional change.

Please feel free to correct me if i am wrong but you seem to be arguing against the position of cycling officer for the reason that there are larger problems with cycling policy and infrastructure.

To expect a large organisation, such as DCC, to abandon work practices and attitudes that have been established and rewarded over generations in order to build an unfamiliar cycling ideal seems to me at best naive and at worst fanatical.

There are more people, from all walks of life, cycling in Dublin since i commuted there by bike to college 8 years ago. There are more bike lanes and more of an awareness of cyclists among all road users. I certainly get the impression that cycling is becoming more of an accepted part of our culture and provisions are being made for it to be part of our normal lives - this is formed by some workplaces providing shower facilities, schemes such as the BTW Scheme and Dublin Bikes and in general more people talking about cycling. This progress isn't as a result of the actions of one person but of each and every person who throws their leg over a frame each weekday morning for work or weekend morning for leisure. But the cause is furthered within public bodies by workplace champions - often these are informal, they may be someone who has always commuted to work by bike or a road engineer who has recently purchased on the BTW scheme and taken her out for a few spins, but an officially appointed advocate, whose sole job purpose is to promote cycling and make it a consideration in all decisions made, can only be a good thing.

You are right though, the position of cycling officer is not an end in itself and it is the impact that the position can have that is important. In all walks of life some people are not suitable to their jobs while others will struggle to be influential when the position was created out of a sense of tokenism and the prevailing culture prioritises the motor car. In this i make no comment on the man who's contract is due to end in DCC - i have no knowledge of him other than the considerable personal support he is receiving in cycling community - a very positive reflection.

Overall, what i am trying to say is that cultural change takes time and is achieved through incremental steps - it might seem frustratingly slow to you but that is how society works. A person working on the inside has far more opportunity to affect the desired change than an ordinary member of the public ever will - and that is the value of a cycling officer.

OssianSmyth

I met Ciaran Fallon earlier this year and my impression was that he was incredibly passionate, energetic and enthusiastic about his job. I understand that his mission is to promote cycling in Dublin and to promote safety for cyclists. He works in the large traffic division in the council. When a new traffic scheme is proposed he is the guy who says 'hold on a second, how is this going to work for cyclists?'

I don't think we would need a cycling officer if Dublin had a normal European level of cyclists. Perhaps the Department of Transport should fund this position given that they have cancelled all the major public transport projects and are committed on paper to a policy of promoting cycling.

The transport budget for 2012 is over €2 billion. How much of that is going on cycling?

galwaycyclist

@eoglyn I suggest you reread the thread. I am not aware that I have taken any position on Ciaran Fallon's reinstatement. Ciaran Fallon's reinstatement is an internal Dublin matter.

What I have taken issue with is the suggestion that the existence of Ciaran Fallon's position, of itself, justifies the creation of unqualified, undefined "cycling officer" roles in other local authorities.

This suggestion I find to be wholly unsupportable. I speak in particular as someone who has substantial experience of how Irish local authorities operate on transport issues.

CramCycle

galwaycyclist wrote: »

What I have taken issue with is the suggestion that the existence of Ciaran Fallon's position, of itself, justifies the creation of unqualified, undefined "cycling officer" roles in other local authorities.

No one has said that the person would be unqualified or undefined. Admittedly, qualifications may be something impossible to achieve and the positions would be given to those with experience in the area, whatever that may be.

As for undefined, it is by its name quite defined but in case it needs to be spelled out, a position whose sole purpose is to promote cycling, increase its numbers and awareness of it in the local area, through whatever means necessary. The position from what I can see of Ciarans Fallons tenure would mean that any transport related area in the local council would be required to give space and recognition of that person at the table for all discussions. Obviously being one person at a table of 10 may not be much but it is a start. Other roles would be liasing with the Gardai and roads authority in order to promote safety and point out where they can't see how sometimes counter-intuitive thinking may be the right way to go.

It may also have some side areas promoting cycling events, eg sky ride, criterium etc. so there is a voice there when people wish to promote or get approval for these events that there is someone there who will listen and be a recognised voice at meetings to defend such proposals as they are put forward.

This suggestion I find to be wholly unsupportable. I speak in particular as someone who has substantial experience of how Irish local authorities operate on transport issues.

Would you not prefer to have such a position in Galway where you yourself could run for it and hopefully have even more weight behind your voice?