Sir, – Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty’s faux outrage at the cost of a bike shelter in University Hospital Kerry (“Bike shed in Kerry hospital costing €127,000 is ‘pure waste’, says Sinn Féin TD”, May 8th) is cheap populism in its most degraded form.
And it follows a narrative, not unique to Sinn Féin, that investment in cycling is a frivolous extravagance. We’ve seen this with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent Ireland, who are quite happy to support demolishing people’s homes for new roads but won’t countenance the use of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on peripheral land for greenways.
As an architect of 30 years’ experience, I can say with some authority that the idea that you could build a safe, secure, well-lit bike shelter to accommodate 40 bicycles at a cost of just €7,000 is pure fantasy.
The money that was spent on the shelter in Kerry is a solid investment in sustainable transport that will help people avoid the increasing cost of fossil fuel dependency for years to come. The same cannot be said for the €1.2 million spent every year by the Office of Public Works on leasing car-parking spaces for civil servants. Where is the outrage at this extraordinary waste of public money?
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As a cancer patient, I cycled to every one of my radiotherapy sessions and I continue to cycle for regular tests and check-ups.
My doctors have informed me that, as someone who gets regularly daily exercise through cycling, I have a much greater chance of a full recovery. The safe, secure bike parking at both hospitals I have attended is neither an extravagance nor a waste of money. It is essential transport infrastructure, but more than that, it is essential public health infrastructure. – Yours, etc,
CIARÁN FERRIE
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – A simple problem for our exam students in June:
If a bicycle shed for 40 bicycles costs €127,000, how much does parking for 40 cars cost, not considering environmental costs? – Yours, etc,
MARIE FOLEY
Dublin 14.
Sir, – So University Hospital Kerry in Tralee has spent €127,000 on a bicycle shelter and very splendid it looks.
How times have changed. As a child back in the 1960s, I had my tonsils removed in this hospital’s precursor, St Catherine’s, situated across the road from this new shelter. On the night before the operation, shortage of space required me to share a single bed with another boy who I had never met before.
Luckily, both of us survived our procedures and, thankfully, neither boy was sent home on a bicycle. There are things which are important in hospitals, and things which are not, so priorities must be clearly defined for the benefit of patients. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O’SULLIVAN
Paris,
France.
