To celebrate International Women’s Day our March public meeting will be devoted to the topic of the barriers to women cycling. In 2012 the cycling campaign organised a conference on the theme of ‘Women and Cycling - Closing the Gender Gap’, which was prompted by the Census 2011 results which showed that only 1 in 5 cyclists were female. The numbers of people cycling has increased by over 43% since then, but still three quarters of all commuting cyclists are males.

We have four women lined up to speak, ranging from an adventure racer, to a social entrepeneur, to a cycle training coordinator and the creator of the new cycle training standard.

Anne Bedos: Founder of Rothar, social enterprise started 10 years ago. Runs a training programme aimed at ex-offenders and members of the general public financed by the general operations as bike shops in Phibsboro and Fade Street. Has been partnering with other community group to provide bikes for people with disabilities.

Barbara Connolly is national organising officer with Cycling Ireland for CYCLE RIGHT, the national standard for cycle training. In devising the curriculum for the programme, she formulated material with specific reference to the Irish environment and how it impacts on day-to-day cycling for those getting about on bikes. With over 18-years’ experience in cycle safety training, she has worked with children, teens and adults.

Jane Hackett - National Manager Green-Schools Travel at An Taisce. Jane is a behaviour change and sustainability professional with over 18 years experience. She has worked as a town planner, sustainability consultant, environmental educator and currently manages the Green-Schools Travel programme. In addition to overseeing the largest behaviour change programme nationwide she also ovesees the Climate Ambassador programme which aims to engage individuals and communities to take action on climate change. Jane owns two bikes, a rusty dutch bike and a rusting cargo bike – both of which she loves.

Moire O’Sullivan is a writer, adventure racer and stay-at-home mum. She is married to Pete and is the proud parent of their two young sons, Aran and Cahal, born in 2013 and 2015 respectively. In between her pregnancies, Moire won Ireland’s National Adventure Race Series three times in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Her soon-to-be-released book, Bump, Bike and Baby – Mummy’s Gone Adventure Racing, charts her struggles adapting to and learning about motherhood while trying to continue running and biking competitively.

Note the earlier start time of 7pm.

Public meeting. All welcome, particularly women!