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As part of its advocacy work, throughout the year campaign members meet stakeholders, attend events related to active travel,  make presentations and submissions to relevant local and national bodies and engage with local media.

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Below are the key areas of our 2022 advocacy activity.

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Love 30: Love 30 is a campaign group advocating for a default 30 km/h speed limit in built up areas and around schools. This issue is being discussed as part of the Vision Zero Road Safety Strategy and In March the Joint Oireachtas Transport Committee invited Love 30 and the RSA to present to members. Joan Swift was one of the two Love 30 representatives.

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Redesigning Ireland’s Transport for Net Zero - OECD: Ireland’s Climate Advisory Council commissioned the OECD to report on reducing emissions from transport while maintaining wellbeing. Sligo was one of the 4 areas visited by the OECD Team. In April Joan Swift  represented Sligo PPN (Public Participation Network) and Sligo Cycling Campaign at a 2 day workshop in Dublin run by the OECD.  The OECD Report, Redesigning Ireland’s Transport for Net Zero: Towards Systems that Work for People and the Planet was published in October.   Joan was invited to be on the panel for the launch..  

 

Active Travel Team: As part of the new funding for Active Travel every Local Authority now has an Active Travel Team. In April Gemma and Joan met with Paul O’’ Rourke, Head of Sligo Co Co’s newly formed team. We understand major cycling projects cannot proceed until various transport studies have been completed but we outlined several  “quick win” solutions that can and should be implemented in the meantime.  

GAA and Garda re Match Day Parking: Several members of the campaign live in the vicinity of Markievicz Park and are greatly impacted as residents and as bicycle users by the free-for-all parking  on footpaths and cycle lanes which occurs on match days. The campaign wrote to the Garda and the GAA and in June a delegation representing Sligo Cycling Campaign,and Cornageeha and  Oaklawn Residents Associations met 2 members of Sligo Garda to discuss Match Day parking on Pearse Road & environs.  The parking issue received coverage on Ocean FM and in the Sligo Champion. We plan to continue engagement in 2023

Public Participation Network (PPN):  Chairperson Joan is the PPN environment rep on the Sligo Co Co Special Purposes Committee  (SPC) on Infrastructure and Environment.  It meets 4 times a year and each meeting has an update on Active Travel. The role of the SPC is to advise the Council on Policy matters.

Submissions: During 2022 we made several submissions -
June: Strandhill Public Realm to Sligo Co Co
June: Rosses Point Public Realm to Sligo Co Co
June: National Cycle Network (NCN) to  Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII)
November: Cycle Connects to the National Transport Authority (NTA)
November: Submission with photos to Sligo Co Co and Sport Ireland re signage and segregation issues with the  Sligo town section of EuroVelo 1
Councillor Marie Casserly submitted motions at our request on-
e-bike charging as part of Village and Urban Renewal Schemes and on -
prioritising the Sligo N15 section of the National Cycle Network
in view of the number of schools and settlements on the route 

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