A chara, – On January 5th, 2021, your publication featured a compelling article, “Cycling the single biggest activity for referrals to brain unit”, on the Neurological Centre at Beaumont Hospital, underscoring the elevated risks – serious injuries, long-term damage, and potential fatality – associated with cycling without a helmet. The article told us that of the 26 cyclists referred to the unit in the previous 30 months, only two wore helmets and they sustained only minor injuries, while 67 per cent of those not wearing helmets suffered intercranial haemorrhage.
Fast-forward to January 11th, 2024, and your pages highlighted Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan inaugurating a new cycleway in Aylmer Bridge, Co Kildare, conspicuously without his helmet (“New cycle routes to cover 3,500km across State by 2040 at a cost of €1.4bn”, News, January 11th). Despite the safety enhancements of segregated cycleways, it is crucial for the cycling poster boy Minister to model safe cycling practices, by safeguarding his noggin. – Yours, etc,
NICOLA KEARNEY,
Sandymount,
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Dublin 4.
Sir, – Could the Government please pay for a bicycle helmet for Eamon Ryan?
He could get one just like the two students in the photograph announcing new cycle routes.
Well done to the students for setting a good example. – Yours, etc,
PETER WALSH,
Ballycasey,
Shannon,
Co Clare.