The Republic’s only full-time council cycling officer has seen his job saved after an online campaign by cyclists forced the Government to intervene and tell Dublin City Council not to axe him.
There was uproar from cyclists around the country when it emerged the Department of the Environment had told Dublin City Council to stop funding its only cycling officer post, filled by Ciaran Fallon.
He was told he would be losing his job tomorrow, Thursday, because the Department was no longer willing to give the council the funds needed to maintain the position.
The move was seen as a massively symbolic backwards step by Dublin City Council, which has made a big issue of promoting cycling in the city in recent years, mainly through the bike rental scheme.
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“I am due to leave next Thursday,” Fallon said in a newspaper interview at the weekend.
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Cyclists joined an online campaign on Facebook and Twitter to pressure the council to reverse the decision. That campaign generated a lot of negative coverage for the council and the Government.
Now the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has personally intervened in the face of that pressure and has told the council that money will be made available to fill the post for at least six more months.
A review of the job and plans to promote cycling will be carried out before that deadline expires.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin South-East, Eoghan Murphy was one of this who voiced his concern at the plan to axe Fallon’s job. He said he was delighted with the U-turn.
“The Dublinbikes scheme has proved to be a very popular initiative from Dublin City Council, with an annual turnover in excess of €400,000. It is crucial that we have someone with the right vision at the helm of the operation ensuring its continued success,” Mr Murphy said.
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