Cyclists have become a nightmare in Dublin, according to one headline-making judge last week.
And Judge James O’Donohoe is far from alone in Ireland in feeling comfortable criticising cyclists, despite the fact that 14 were killed in our roads last year, and 45 in the past five years.
This week Gav and Sinead discuss why so many people have such a negative view of cyclists, and cycling itself. Why are the misdemeanors of cyclists talked up while those of drivers in powerful vehicles are overlooked? Why was there a furore over the runaway costs of a bike shed at Leinster House, when the far more expensive car parking facilities are rarely discussed?
Is cycling seen in Ireland as an anachronism - more redolent of our rustic, poorer past and not in keeping with our modern view of ourselves? Or has cycling become part of the online battleground, with the seemingly neutral activity labelled as woke by some culture warriors?
How is the Irish attitude to cycling so different from other northern Europeans, in the Netherlands and Denmark for Scandinavia for example?