{"id":419722,"date":"2026-01-17T19:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419722\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T19:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:46:10","slug":"judges-comments-on-cyclists-labelled-untrue-ignorant-as-complaint-made-sticky-bottle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419722\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge\u2019s comments on cyclists labelled \u201cuntrue, ignorant\u201d as complaint made \u2013 Sticky Bottle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has rejected the judge\u2019s comments while the Labour Party has reacted with strong condemnation (Photo: D Ribeiro)<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said he \u201crejects\u201d the stereotyping of cyclists following comments by a judge who described as a \u201cnightmare\u201d and unpredictable cyclists in Dublin.<\/p>\n

The comments were made by Judge James O\u2019Donohoe as he reduced by 80 per cent damages awarded to a cyclist who crashed and suffered a brain injury.<\/p>\n

During a hearing last week at the Circuit Civil Court, Judge O\u2019Donohoe said he had experience of cyclists himself as he drove around Dublin, saying they were now \u201ca nightmare\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know with cyclists what they are going to do or anticipate what they are going to do,\u201d he said. \u201cCyclists have become a nightmare in Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has been significant push back against those remarks, from across the political spectrum and from cycling groups and Cycling Ireland.<\/p>\n

And now Martin has told D\u00e1il Eireann: \u201cI reject any stereotyping or categorisation of cyclists. I do not want to breach any rule concerning the separation of powers but I am very clear that any general comment that impacts negatively on the perspective on cyclists is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should not be made. We should be very clear about the importance of cycling and about facilitating cyclists. Also, we should be very careful regarding contested space on our roads to ensure that we protect cyclists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Labour Party has also submitted a formal complaint to the Judicial Council following remarks about cyclists made by Judge O\u2019Donohoe.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s transport spokesperson, Ciar\u00e1n Ahern TD, said the commentary by Judge O\u2019Donohoe was \u201cdeeply problematic, and has exhibited a clear perception of bias against cyclists\u201d in his decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese comments were beyond what was necessary to determine the matter before the court, and what\u2019s more, they have opened the floodgates around negative, uninformed remarks about cyclists,\u201d Ahern said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was appalled to see the Deputy Vice President of the Road Hauliers\u2019 Association jump at the opportunity to punch down on cyclists and vulnerable road users; this demonstrates the influence of the judiciary in our society and the importance that is attached to all judicial utterances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement that \u2018cyclists have become a nightmare in Dublin\u2019 was an \u201cuntrue, unfair and frankly ignorant statement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is actually much the opposite \u2013 being a cyclist is often a nightmare with a lack of safe, segregated cycle lanes, dangerous junctions, poor lighting, poor maintenance of existing bike lanes and record levels of bike theft among some of the many issues cyclists face in Dublin and across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahern added 14 cyclists were killed on our roads in 2025 \u2013 the highest number of cyclists lives lost since 2017. He said 2025 was a devastating year on our roads, seeing 190 people lose their lives, adding \u201cevery road death is a tragedy for the families and communities impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has rejected the judge\u2019s comments while the Labour Party has reacted with strong condemnation (Photo:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-419722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}