A Kilkenny City-based Councillor is calling on parents to walk or cycle with their children to school.
Labour’s Sean Ó hArgáin made the call at yesterday’s Municipal District meeting at County Hall during a discussion on city traffic flows.
Cllr Ó hArgáin is appealing to city parents to set a good example to their children by leaving the car at home and bring them to school in a more sustainable way.
“We all have to admit that we are the problem, it’s not just other people are the problem and I think it really needs to be tackled and I would ask parents just to reflect on it after Christmas to make a fresh start and to say from the new year on that we’re going to walk and you know I’ve always said it’s the best way to encourage your child to cycle to school is to cycle with them for the first week.”
“Get your bike out of the shed, get it repaired, go along the cycle lanes. I mean there’s virtually no part of the access to schools now that doesn’t have a very adequate and well kept cycling lane into which millions of euro have been poured and now it’s a matter for parents really to step up to the plate”
“I would say to kids in fifth and sixth class and in post primary schools you know ignore the peer pressure that you might be getting from other people and say I’m going to be the person who’s going to cycle.”
“I’ve often made the point to teenagers there’s no point admiring Greta Thunberg and turning up at the town hall on a Friday afternoon for a climate strike and then asking Mammy to drive you to school so it’s that simple. Stand up, you know, step up to the plate and make the difference that we need to be ourselves.”
