The school day is starting at St Patrick’s National School in Chapelizod, Dublin. Pupils file into classrooms in their droves. But outside there is just one bicycle in the bike rack.
Principal Kieran Tierney notes the anomaly. While many pupils own a bike and know how to cycle, a “minimal” number would cycle to school due to busy junctions and traffic issues in the village, he says.
A survey published this week by the National Transport Authority (NTA) found there was a perception among adults that cycling for children was less safe than walking. That view is shared by parents in the busy village of Chapelizod.
Local resident Lisa Killarney says her family is looking to cycle more but her three young children “would definitely have to be on the footpaths around here because of the dangerous junctions”.
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She says she has seen two adult cyclists get knocked off their bikes while coming out of Maiden’s Row in Chapelizod.
The “very narrow” road and the fact there are “no provisions” for cyclists in the village means “children would have to be on the footpath around here”, Killarney says.
Bikes on footpaths, however, create their own issues, as Mitzi Fegan, who lives in Chapelizod and works in the city centre, points out. She alternates between cycling and driving when commuting and is “aware of the risks of both forms of transport”. But she has a “big problem” with adults cycling on the footpaths.
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As an occasional cyclist, she is not “massively confident on the road ... but I’m still not going to put anyone else at risk on the footpath by cycling on the footpath. It’s dangerous enough as it is.
“All road users should know the rules of the road and if you’re going to be using the road either as a cyclist or a driver, you need to be respectful of other road users, same for the footpaths.”
She says she does not feel comfortable letting her children cycle in the village due to the “traffic and the unruly junctions”.
“There’s no control of the junctions,” she says.
“It’s a danger even walking to school because of the traffic and people breaking the junctions and stuff so, cycling is out of the question.”
Owen McNamee (42) has commuted to the city centre from Chapelizod for work by bike, for the last five or six years. He would love to let his son cycle to school but described the junction in the area as “an absolute disgrace for kids”.
The marketing director says cycling has “generally been fine for me as an adult”. His son would only have to cross one junction to get to school from his home but McNamee says cars in the area are driving “too fast” and “speeding through traffic lights”.
The NTA report found the number of cycling trips by schoolchildren has increased in the State from 3.3 million journeys in 2023 to 6 million journeys in 2025. However, just 59 per cent of residents surveyed said they thought it was safe to cycle in their local area, while under half (48 per cent) believed it was safe for children to cycle locally. In contrast, 63 per cent believed it was safe for children to walk or wheel – in the case of wheelchair users – in their local area.
In Chapelizod, concerned parents last year set up a voluntary safe transport group. Parents can be seen daily in high-visibility jackets helping children cross busy junctions leading to St Patrick’s and St Laurence’s primary schools.
Tierney says each year third-class students at St Patrick’s take part in the Department of Transport’s Cycle Right Training programme on school grounds. The school principal believes more children would cycle to school if there was a well-maintained and safe cycle path.
Local Green Party Cllr Ray Cunningham supports further investment. The “real test of cycling infrastructure” is if you let children use it, he says. “Adults will take risks but if a cycle lane is not good enough for a 12-year-old, it’s not a proper cycle lane.”
In a statement, Dublin City Council said its Chapelizod Road and Conyngham Road Active Travel Scheme would deliver 3.1km of “enhanced walking and cycling infrastructure” in the area.
“It will be implemented in phases to ensure efficient delivery and to support improved safety for people cycling,” the council said. Planned features include a “new two-way protected cycle track along Chapelizod Road and Conyngham Road” and footpath improvements and widening.
