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A SERIES OF complaints to the transport authority details the cycling public’s concern with the Luas Cross City works in Dublin.
The complaints, released to TheJournal.ie under Freedom of Information by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, detail some of the issues raised by members of the public in the last three months, with the word “lethal” used on more than one occasion.
Currently, Luas Cross City is installing a track link between the Red and Green routes, together with the tram service’s expansion towards Broombridge in Cabra on Dublin’s northside.
Most of the issues concern the works seen between O’Connell Bridge and Parnell Square in the city centre.
Cycling alongside in-service Luas tracks can be hazardous as one or both wheels can easily become trapped in the rails’ grooves.
‘Sudden and dangerous’
One individual complained in late February of an issue created where the Luas lines are to be laid underneath an existing bridge in Phibsborough on the city’s northside.
“The space for cycling has been cut off,” the complainant says. “I have had to get off my bike these last few mornings.”
Surely you are not allowed block a road in such a sudden and dangerous way as this.
Another person took issue last month with the position of barriers at works on the corner of Abbey and O’Connell streets, which, they claimed, were limiting space between the curb and the tracks at that corner.
The barriers at the corner “get moved out onto the road from time to time”, the complainant said.
“This morning I tried to widen the road space but found that the barriers had been ‘cable tied’ to the traffic lights,” they said, adding that in doing so the road space between the barriers and the Luas tracks was decreased “significantly”, creating a ‘safety concern’ for both cyclists and pedestrians.
The track-works that had, until recently, been taking place at the Spire on O’Connell Street were called into question in early January.
Buckled
A cyclist claimed in their complaint that their back tire had been buckled badly after becoming caught in one of the tracks.
“I had already witnessed this happening twice at the same location before today,” the complainant said. “There must be some issue with the tarmac around these… and something needs to be done about this,” they added before querying as to how Luas Cross City could be billed for the damage to the bike.
Another cyclist followed up on a complaint she had made in November of last year after her bicycle likewise became caught in the tracks on O’Connell Street.
The woman said that as a result of her complaint a new electronic sign had been erected to warn cyclists at the site. Her accident in November had seen her “come off my bicycle in front of a bus”.
“Unfortunately, my shoulder still isn’t back to its full strength. I have had ongoing pain and issues regarding certain movements; lifting my baby is difficult using my left arm, as is turning on switches of a certain height or putting on a backpack,” she said.
The woman did not attempt to bill Luas Cross City however, but rather said she “just wanted to keep you in the loop”.
At the end of the street at the Rotunda Hospital, one person complained that the “oil and grease from cars and buses and wet weather” had made the laid tracks “absolutely lethal” and a “serious hazard”.
“I purposefully slowed down coming towards it and still ended up falling heavily on the ground hurting my hip and elbow,” they said.
That complainant suggested that a temporary material be placed across the lines to aid pedestrians and cyclists, and that warning signage needed to be improved.
I don’t intend to make an injury claim. It cost me €105 to replace my derailer and hanger on my bicycle damaged as a result of this fall. I expect DCC to refund this to me at the earliest possible convenience.
‘Insane’
The complaints are not restricted to the north side of the city. One cyclist complained in February that works on Dawson Street, between St Stephen’s Green and Trinity College, are “so dangerous that it will only be a matter of time before there is a serious accident”.
“This morning because it was so wet, the tracks… caused my bike to slip and I came a cropper off my bike and straight out in front of a bus,” the complaint reads.
Thankfully there was enough distance between me and the bus for him to stop, but I banjaxed my knee and elbow and damaged my bike. I would just like to point out that not enough is being done by the construction company [to] ensure the safety of cyclists.
A further complaint in early January deals with the “lethal” nature of the Luas works around the city centre.
“I would like to complain about the terrible design of the Luas works for cyclists,” the complainant says.
The insane layout of the roadworks around the tracks are lethal for cyclists. How was this permitted when there are so many cyclists using that route.
I hope the planners are held responsible for this negligence and that there are no deaths as a result.
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In all fairness it’s hardly up to the guards to remove syringes, it’s the council who clean up the area!!! It’s like the authorities are being blamed and not a word about the people who leave these syringes behind them!?!?
Well it would be up to the council to remove the syringes, I presume, but the Gardaí to deal with the illegal drug use.
The gardai do prosecute them daily but the courts give fines or suspended sentences and the bleeding heart do gooders try to absolute personal responsibility from the junkies.
they dont even give them fines, they give them BMWs disguised as fines!
@ john
And where do you think the syringes come from? The authorities using the free needle program. Stop supplying the needles for free, an exchange program wud stamp that out. Charge for fresh needles or free if they return the old one. No more needles lying around.
If you care charging for needles they’ll reuse then which is a huge part of the problem with IV drug use.
Syringes or not , the amount of uncollected refuse and illegal dumping in this country is a disgrace.
Junkies have a disregard for anyone else but themselves. They commit crimes to fund their habits and endanger the lives of others knowing there are no consequences because our Guards are stretched to the limit. All this talk about injection centres and drug rehab programmes is misplaced. Remove all social benefits until clean. That will stop it.
How will that stop it exactly. I think it’s fair to say it’s been established at this point that addicts will and do resort to crime to fund their habit. In what way will removing all social benefits compel users to get clean? Surely drug-related crime rates will increase if social benefits are removed..
Silly Daffy. Don’t help people who need help because… er… reasons.
Round them up and stick them in a tiled room with a bucket for 9 weeks and let them go thru the dts , less of the mammying and bleeding heart bs and bit more tough love is required
number of thumbs up demonstrates the ignorance. How will this stop the scourge? ‘Where there’s a will’ …
yes it makes good people monsters but you are wrong the centers are working in Canada, Switzerland and more. The Portuguese lapped up the benefits in their society although they had the common sense to stop criminalising users and, more importantly, addicts.
https://news.vice.com/article/ungass-portugal-what-happened-after-decriminalization-drugs-weed-to-heroin
They had the answer when the bad gear was on the streets . Cops worked overtime to get rid of it .
Wat r u on bout Alan? The gards have no answer to gear on the street.Dublin is covered in it,has been for years.the cards may aswel have there fingers up there holes.ther use less
I think he’s pointing out that the gards could have let the lethal drugs that hit irish streets a while back run their course and culled the junkie population instead of working so hard to get that particular batch off the streets.
yeh he’s gone a bit ‘CIA / crack cocaine’ on us there
Spot on
But we can’t have safe injection centers to help minimise this sort of thing because ill-informed right-wing idiots and the FG Holy Joe Country and Western brigade think it’s bad and wrong and wil encourage drug use and hate it because it was proposed by uber-liberal girlyman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin when he was a TD.
Because like all trolls, it’s the highlight of their day.
There was a very feel-good article the other day about how a drug that save the lives of multiple overdosers should be distributed for free and how empowering it all is, blah blah. And how good it feels to save the life of a junkie who over shot himself. All the comments that were considered to be of the buzz killing type were taken down. Didn’t fit with junkie as harmless victim narrative . Then when you see the reality of what drug addicts leave behind in their wake, the reality of their absolute self indulgence and the pain and damage they inflict it just makes me angry that resources go into these people that could be better spent on more deserving people with better outcome possibilities.
“Safe injection centres are the answer alright. However, it wouldnt be heroin I would advocate injecting. ”
- Yeah, murdering problematic people is a great idea.
“O’ Riordan and the rest of the liberals need a reality check. Junkies choose their lifestyle and bring their misery upon the rest of society”
- And safe injecting centers woudl reduce the misery they bring to the rest of society, and themselves, and reduce the financial cost to society too.
“Do you think injection centres are somehow going to cause the junkies to be bestowed with civic responsibility and not leave needles on the streets ever again?”
- Why are you asking me that when I quite clearly stated in the comment you’re responding to that “safe injection centers to help minimise this sort of thing”. HELP MINIMISE. How hard a concept is that to understand?
“It’s the uber-liberals that infest our judiciary that turf these junkies onto the streets time and time again wile looking after their friends suckling from the free-legal-aid teat.”
- What the f__k does that have to do with providing safe injecting centers to take them OFF the street?
“Then when you see the reality of what drug addicts leave behind in their wake, the reality of their absolute self indulgence and the pain and damage they inflict it just makes me angry that resources go into these people that could be better spent on more deserving people with better outcome possibilities.”
And providing safe injecting centres would remove some of what they leave behind, drug paraphernalia. Would reduce the healthcare cost of dealing with unsafe injecting, sharing needles etc. Would reduce the risk of overdosing, which will, regardless of what some might like, take up resources like emergency services etc.
If you have nothing useful to add to the discussion, Marg, the just keep quiet.
damn those uber-liberals, using ride-sharing apps in a free and easy manner.
If you have nothing useful to add to the discussion, Marg, then just keep quiet.
Ah the bleeding hearts are out in force. How about this solution? Three strikes approach…you are given help three times and if you are still a junkie after that, then no more help. No dole, no free houses, not a penny more from the tax payer. As I said its a lifestyle choice, they are given endless help and dont take it
@cleverjake Take a wander down to Our Ladys in Crumlin or Temple Street and you will see people who need help. Children all over the country need life saving operations and medicine and your lot want to spend the health budget on people who made bad choices. Those kids didnt make and bad choices and they suffer because millions are spent on wasters. Shame on you and your liberal friends
How about we build safe injecting centers and use the money saved treating people for sharing needles and help avoid situations like this and resources spent on treating children like this little girl when it could be avoidable and direct the money into Crumlin or Temple Street hospitals rather than harp on about political ideology and achieve nothing but more waste?
How about we dont spend another cent on wasters and divert the money saved to the real hard cases? How about we stop indulging the waster generation who think they are entitled to not work and get paid. The govt pay heroin addicts €188 a week and they spend it on gear. The truth is that the govt are directly funding Kinihan and Freddy and the rest of the dealers. Taxpayers money is directly funding the murder on our streets. Wake up and smell the coffee. This is the reality of not only tolerating but funding drug dealers by giving free money to wasters
“Some of the most vulnerable people in society…” No. Some of the most vulnerable are among those junkies prey on. Old people, special needs people, kids. Through no fault of their own, they are the people who get mugged, robbed, beaten, dragged down lanes, and exposed to dangerous needles junkies left behind, because they are vulnerable. We hear the stories over and over. They also missed out on services that the government can’t afford because they are too busy looking out for people who made a conscious decision to ruin their own lives with drugs.
“How about we dont spend another cent on wasters and divert the money saved to the real hard cases?”
Because if we don’t things like this happen.
“How about we stop indulging the waster generation who think they are entitled to not work and get paid. ”
Are you even addressing the issue here ot just ranting?
“The govt pay heroin addicts €188 a week and they spend it on gear. The truth is that the govt are directly funding Kinihan and Freddy and the rest of the dealers.”
What are you on about?
“Taxpayers money is directly funding the murder on our streets. Wake up and smell the coffee. This is the reality of not only tolerating but funding drug dealers by giving free money to wasters”
What has this got to do with the issue being discussed?
There isnt enough money to go around in the health service. Straight question…you have €1 million to spend on either injection centres or life saving operations, which do you choose? No bluff, no answering my question with a question, which one do you choose?
at least recognise that there isnt the money because of a deliberate EU/Europe-wide constructed financial crisis ..the results of which are to privatise our resources and drive ordinary people’s living standards into the abyss. However now that we know ROI is ready for the centers – why dont we stop arguing and introduce a few ?
which do you choose which do you choose which do you choose which do you choose?
Jake surely even people from a poor socio- economical background know the word NO !!!!!!! . Nobody forced these people to take their first drug NOBODY . And now innocent children are waiting for blood results because of their total disregard for people by just dropping their needles ” wherever” . Would you be as understanding if it was your child ????
So Phil because marg does not agree with you, she has nothing useful to say ????. She is as entitled to her opinion on this as much as you are so relax and act like an adult
You have once again dodged the question being asked. €1 million to spend on heroin addicts or children who need life saving operations…who would you rather spend it on? This is the reality
I was there yesterday and two as it seemed men a bit out of it were asking each other in a most delightful manner, Would you rob that shop to each other, what a delight and both dressed in immaculate clothing, that made me wonder if these druggies stole the clothes they were wearing as well?
What a delight for tourists…
Too sarcastic I think?
reads a bit like a poem
3….2……1…. Que the Druggies are victims and the PC bollocks excuses .
the druggies are victims. Yours, PC Bollocks.
Sure they are. I wonder how many victims the average drug user has left in their wake . Ever had a family member attacked with a needle?? Ever had a house ransacked by a user. ever had a business broken into by a user?.
I wouldn’t even call them human, never mind victims.
The only way to stop this is having these centres .you hear these stories with kids too often .
No, we should bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away all on its own.
And rant about how providing such a service is being nice to junkies while ignoring pretty much all the other benefits.
Let me make it clear though i don’t have any sympathy for junkies they disgust me but if this lessons the chance of my children coming in contact with their filthy needles I’d support it !
Injection centres are a step in the right direction of course but, just like prisons, the NIMBYs will be all over any kind of planning permission or works installation to ensure that these facilities are not installed within a jumbo jet’s roar of their area. Yet they will complain until the cows come home. Meanwhile the councils will remain in a constant state of paralysis with respect to a decision on this while Joe Public remains in harms way.
Exactly my thinking Lauren. Couldn’t care less about addicts. It’s everybody else I’m worried about.
Kids that are born junkies and have to go through detox as soon as they are born are then just handed back to their junkie mothers .. I’ll never understand that …
@Sean
Wouldn’t you have the same attitude if it was actually ‘in your backyard’ and YOUR property would lose 50 grand in value almost overnight?
I’m all for injection centres if it helps to reduce those incidents but not in predominantly residential areas.
i dont have a backyard, or a property worth e50k- so im fine with it
We as a society needs to open up civic responsibility centres for junkies.
Take the money from the health budget.
Stay classy Ballymuh
People mention injection centres great idea let’s get these useless carcasses out of the city and build an injection centre in foxrock.
have your say