With the Tour de France now back on its home turf after enjoying the best of Irish hospitality, cycling campaigners in Dublin believe that the time has come to roll out a red carpet for the capital's own cyclists.
Mr Eamonn Ryan, chairman of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, said the best thing about Le Tour was that ordinary cyclists were able to "fly around the city" on streets closed to traffic. "For once in Dublin, it felt glamorous to be a cyclist," he declared.
Mr Ryan, who is taking over a Green Party seat on the City Council from Mr John Gormley TD, said there was now a "huge opportunity to provide safe space on the streets for cyclists and then watch their number rise steadily. It really is a key time."
He said cycling campaigners had no dispute with Dublin Corporation because it had "all the right plans" to provide better facilities for cyclists, but there had been "too much talk and not enough action" and cyclists now wanted to see "concrete results".
Bus and cycle lanes are being installed on routes linking Finglas, Malahide and Blanchardstown with the city centre. Similar plans have been made to serve Clondalkin, Tallaght, Rathfarnham, Clonskeagh and Dublin Airport.
However there is strong opposition from householders and local businesses to dedicating road space for public transport and cyclists.
Shopkeepers have objected to the loss of casual parking in front of their premises while some householders fear they will not be able to reverse their cars from their driveways if there is a cycle lane outside.
Mr Owen Keegan, Dublin's director of traffic, said the corporation was "absolutely committed" to providing more cycle lanes. "We're getting on with it and we'll have them all over the city before there's a single track laid for Luas," he declared.
Referring to opposition from local interests, Mr Keegan said it was a question of "educating people and convincing them that this is worthwhile". The aim was to double the number of commuters cycling into town every day.
According to Mr Ryan, the bicycle offered motorists a much more flexible option than public transport because "it takes you door to door, goes where you want to go, has very low maintenance costs and you can park it almost anywhere".
The number of cyclists in the city has been falling in recent years, however, to about 30,000, because of fears about safety. "It's not particularly dangerous as the traffic speeds are so low, but there's so little space that you feel as if you're about to be squeezed off the road," he said.
With just one dedicated cycle lane in the inner city - a narrow strip barely 100 yards long in front of the Four Courts - Mr Ryan said Dublin was lagging far behind other European cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen in providing for cyclists.
However Mr Keegan insisted that cyclists would see significant changes by the end of this year. "We're even experimenting with marking out the cycle lanes in red tarmac, so I suppose you could say we're rolling out the red carpet for cyclists," he said.
