WE HEAR of too many things being "rolled out" these days. But it's hard not to be excited when that phrase is used in the context of Noel Dempsey's "environmentally friendly workplace travel initiative" - which, as reported yesterday, is to be "rolled out" soon from all Government departments, writes Frank McNally.
Surely this is a veiled reference to the abolition of the 4,000 free parking spaces still enjoyed by civil servants in Dublin - a major contributor to the city's traffic problems. If so, it is typically courageous of Mr Dempsey to tackle the issue and risk the wrath of bureaucrats; although, if anything, he may be verging on over-enthusiasm.
Only hard-line eco-warriors would insist on rolling the cars out of their free parking spaces. It would be a good publicity stunt, admittedly, and would send out a message about the Government's seriousness on climate change. But most environmentalists would settle for the cars being driven out in the normal fashion, so long as the owners promised not to bring them back.
Either way, it is to be hoped that the roll-out plan will include Leinster House. This would be a timely move. It seems apt that 2008 marks the 10th anniversary not only of the Belfast Agreement and the amendment of Articles 2 and 3; but also of the annexation of Leinster House lawn by a "temporary" car-park, whose occupation of the disputed territory continues to this day.
Now that the national question has been resolved, this lost area of pastureland has become for some patriots the new Fourth Green Field. Its period in bondage is not expected to end any time soon. But our sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers, etc; and perhaps through their efforts, Leinster House lawn will bloom once again, eventually.
THE MINISTER made his roll-out promise at the annual lecture of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, the report on which also featured a call from an environmental engineering expert for a "truly permeable network" of bicycle lanes in the capital. Necessary measures, the expert suggested, would include exempting cyclists from the need to turn left- or right-only at certain junctions, allowing them to travel contra-flow on one-way streets, and so on.
Some car drivers will complain that this would merely formalise current practice, under which bicycle users regard themselves as immune from all laws, with the possible exception of gravity. But as a cyclist who also drives, occasionally, I can see the argument from both sides.
When I'm behind the wheel of my car, yes, many cyclists do look like drug-crazed anarchists. Whereas, when I leave the car and join them, I remember that we bicycle users are a colonised people, expected to obey traffic laws that were made by and for drivers, while enduring Irish weather conditions - are also heavily weighted in favour of those in enclosed, air-conditioned vehicles.
Take the whole one-way-street concept, which is completely alien to our two-wheeled culture. No doubt it seems reasonable to drivers that, if they have to follow one direction only around St Stephen's Green or Trinity College, cyclists should be required to do likewise. But what is an effortless exercise in a car can be the Paris-Roubaix spring classic by bike. Which is why there is already a system of contra-flow cycling lanes in these areas, involving a combination of streets and footpaths.
Coincidence or not, Leinster House is central to Dublin's most concentrated scheme of one-way streets. As a result, a law-abiding cyclist trying to get from Merrion Square, on the eastern side to the Dáil, to Grafton Street on its west is subject to appallingly long detours, unless he or she dismounts and walks for certain stretches (an option that may sound reasonable to drivers, but again is not part of cycling culture).
If we are to have a "truly permeable network" for bicycles, the permeation could start right here. Think of it. By merely widening the front and back doors of Leinster House, the Minister for Transport could run a cycle lane through the lobby, thereby linking the former (and - tiocfaidh ár lá! - future) lawn and Merrion Square on one side with the greater Grafton Street area on the other.
The project would benefit, indirectly, from the famous pedestrian traffic light outside the Dáil on Kildare Street - the only one in the city that works fully.
Yes, it might seem odd at first, having bicycles breezing though the foyer of the old house, past the portraits of Michael Collins and Cathal Brugha. But Collins was a bike enthusiast too, remember. And after the initial shock, it might be a breath of fresh air for the building - literally. It could even have a knock-on benefit in the campaign for Dáil reform.
Ideally, the official opening would be in mid-June 2009, with well-known cyclist and Joyce enthusiast Senator David Norris leading a special Bloomsday bike rally though the doors en route to Davy Byrne's.
Of course, Leinster House and its gardens form an historic precinct, which is deserving of the utmost respect. I only suggest running a bicycle lane through it pending the transformation of Dublin into a cyclist's paradise - a new, improved version of Amsterdam - which is what the Minister plans. Thus it would be a purely temporary measure, just like the tarmac on the lawn.
fmcnally@irish-times.ie