‘Unacceptable’: Flanagan hits out at drivers parking in cycle lanes

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has described as "unacceptable" the behaviour of drivers who park their vehicles in designated cycle lanes.

Mr Flanagan retweeted a photograph on Saturday of the cycle lane on Dublin's Upper Camden Street, which was blocked by three vehicles, with the message "cycle lanes must be kept clear for cyclists only".

He wrote that "gardaí & local authorities must act to enforce the law" and that he planned to hold a meeting with Minister for Transport Shane Ross and Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy to "improve matters".

The photograph tweeted by Mr Flanagan was originally posted by Twitter user Ciarán Ferris on Friday with the message: “Just a normal day on the 24-hour mandatory cycle lane on Upper Camden Street – three vehicles in total, several more parked in the bus lane on Lower Camden Street and six vehicles parked in the South Great George’s Street bus lane, but sure who cares, eh?”

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The I Bike Dublin cycle campaign group responded to Mr Flanagan’s tweet by reminding the Minister that the parking of vehicles in bike lanes was “not a single event, it is the culture in our roads and seen as acceptable by law enforcement. Only proper enforcement and stronger penalties can change this. We are counting on you.”

The Dublin Cycling group suggested the Government make cycle and bus lanes 24/7 and remove the time-plating designating them a cycle area only during certain hours. “The current practice of part-time bike/bus lanes that become a free-for-all outside of operation hours reinforces the notion that they are at drivers’ disposal,” tweeted the group.

More than one quarter of adults in Ireland cycle at least once a week, with this figure rising to almost 40 per cent in Dublin, according to a survey carried out in May. Nearly half of the 1,000 Irish adults surveyed said they felt cycling infrastructure in Ireland could be improved.