iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Biodiversity week cycle tomorrow(Saturday) starts at 11am in O’Brien Park. Fun, free, educational event suitable for all ages. A guided cycle along safe routes at a relaxed pace. There will be several stops where an expert will tell us about the nature around us.

011

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Limerick Heritage Week Cycle Tour is a free event starting this Sunday(the 17th) at noon from in front Colbert Train Station. Will take about an hour and be a casual pace with lots of stops so all ages and abilities welcome.

Flyer for Limerick Heritage Week Cycle Tour. Sunday August 17th, 12 Noon start. Colbert Train Station Plaza. All ages and abilities welcome.

041

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Hold on...that table also mentions 3 loading bays on Denmark St? I didn't see that anywhere. Is that what theses white boxes are? Lorries? So it's a shared space/loading area/2 lanes of traffic? It's not marked on the maps. And I don't see it anywhere in the report. Very odd.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

These 3 stands also untracked outside the library(photo from the weekend) So in total there are 11 and this report says there are 0 but they are delivering 12. Well actually they are delivering 1 but removing them from the most used area.

3 bike stands. Bike bunker in the background. 6 bikes locked to the stands.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

By the way, the report is straight up wrong about there being no bike stands in the area at the moment. There are 6 on Mungret Street I showed that are always busy on market days. +2 more at the side So actually are they are planning to REMOVE 6 stands from around the market?

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

But here again the taxi/parking makes for a very tight squeeze with the width going well below that 1.8m threshold. It just doesn't fit here and should be removed and the other parking beside it re-designated as a Taxi zone at the appropriate times.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Finally another section of Ellen Street and good lord that's a lot of on street parking that was added. Do I need to check the feedback again? Ok, to be fair they reduced this to a one way street which given the layout round the Milk Market makes sense.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

And despite being marked for a street section view elsewhere in the drawings they don't actually represent that loading bay so the width looks fine but is not representative. The one on the left is the Opera side. Why do they need 2 loading bays directly opposite anyway?

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

But they have added another loading zone. It looks like this doesn't become parking but remains a set down area. It does however reduce the width of the footpath to 1.4m, well below the minimum recommended width of 1.8m as per national guidelines. And what they mention in their own report.

“Where footpaths are narrow to facilitate parking/ loading, footpaths should be widened and parking removed"

On narrow streets, footpaths have been increased to a minimum of 1.8m where possible and parking has been removed to ensure pedestrian safety and comfort.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Ellen St. They've marked parking on the north side of the street as not their remit now, presumably part of Opera project.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

A current zebra crossing has been replaced by a "courtesy crossing". A crossing is a hilarious concept on a "shared space" to begin with. There's several of these crossings dotted around these "shared spaces" which shows they are not truly shared at all.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Going to Lower Denmark St. Again it's "shared space" again with through traffic. Again with some of that being 2 lanes of carpark entry/exit traffic. Although it's not clear from this drawing it's mentioned in the report.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Just a reminder the majority of submissions on parking were asking for an even bigger reduction of on-street parking. Their own report says that the multistory car parks have an excess of 400 spaces on any given day. LSMATS also calls for a reduction of on-street parking.

Q‐Park have 2No. Multi Story car parks within 50m
and 200m respectively of the Milk Market both of which currently operate at a maximum of 45%
occupancy on any given day of the week which equates to in excess of 400No. spaces available across
both car parks.

111

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Anyway, moving on to High Street. Ah, more Loading/Parking... It's a good time to point out, it says Loading/Parking. But all these Loading/Parking zones I'm showing are only loading zones from 6am-11am Mon-Fri so they are really mostly parking.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Instead of putting 50 bollards along Cornmarket Row, Carr St and Robert Street. Just put a few on the junction in between. Suddenly you've cut all the unneeded through traffic while maintaining access for local access and loading. Like this example in London.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Look at this nonsense vision for High Street. This is currently a pretty busy road. Do they really think calling it a shared space will actually make this a nice safe place to walk? No, it'll be just like O'Connell Street.

Render of High Street shared space street.

200

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Before we go on, lets talk about shared spaces. The report mentions them as this panacea of pedestrian safety and comfort. But just look at O'Connell Street or along the Quays and you can see that is obviously not true.

“All streets should be shared surface to further prioritise pedestrians, enhance pedestrian safety and to allow for the space to be used for outdoor events"

All streets, with the exception of part of Ellen Street, have been proposed as a shared surface to further prioritise pedestrians, enhance pedestrian safety and to allow events to take place on the streets, when required.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

So what else have they changed? They've re-added loading and parking to Robert St that wasn't in the original proposal people made submissions on. Ok, I'm sure that's a one off(foreshadowing). And it is less than what's there now I guess so it is an improvement.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Looking at Robert Street and Upper Denmark Street. This is all shared space BTW. Yes including that section outside the car park that is 2 lanes of traffic coming in and out.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

One loading/taxi area has been removed and one made bigger and defined as "Click and Collect" I'll point out that this will displace a TFI bike station and 6 bike racks(12 spaces) that are pretty heavily used on market days.

6 bikes stands with bikes locked to them outside the Milk Market.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Starting with the centrepiece. The Milk Market itself. Not a huge amount has changed here. More details on the usage of the parking areas.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

The clear story this report shows is that people want this area to become more people centric and less about cars. But if you look at what has come out of this consultation, you'd be hard pressed to find anything beyond tokenistic gestures. Lets go over each section.

Cover of report. Market Quarter and Cruise’s Street
Public Realm Upgrades. Non-Statutory Public Consultation
You Said We Heard Report

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Parking was also a significant part of the submissions 13%. Again a majority wanting to see less space dedicated to cars and more to people. Especially given that there are multiple car parks in this area to accommodate parking. 1 submission here asked for more loading bays.

The chart below shows the breakdown of submissions within the Parking category.

58% of comments within the Parking Category stated that the scheme should have less parking spaces, loading bays and taxi ranks than what was shown in the emerging layouts during the public consultation. Many comments stated that the area has enough parking within the multi-storey car parks and that the streets should be for people to use and not for cars. Many people pointed out that the footpaths are too narrow to accommodate both pedestrians and parking / loading bays and that the parking should be removed as it is more important to prioritise pedestrians. 16% of comments stated that more accessible and age friendly parking should be provided.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Of these submissions the majority wanted to see vehicular access restricted more. And several submissions calling for full pedestrianisation of some streets. 2 submissions asked for the area to be shared space. Lets remember that.

Shown in the graph below is a breakdown of the submissions regarding Pedestrian & Cyclist Prioritisation.

The majority of submissions (53%) within the Pedestrian and Cyclist Priority category expressed the requirement to further prioritise pedestrians and cyclists by limiting vehicular access to local access and deliveries only. 13% of comments suggested fully pedestrianising certain streets, for example Robert Street, Carr Street, Cornmarket Row and Back Lane as vehicular access is not required on these streets. 5% of comments suggested that the whole area should be shared surface to further prioritise pedestrians, enhance pedestrian safety and to allow for the space to be used for outdoor events. 29% of comments expressed that the layouts presented on MyPoint and at the in-person event would benefit the area greatly and did not propose any alterations to the plans.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

I'm going to focus mostly on the urbanist aspects of this. I was really impressed with the feedback they captured. A plurality of submissions were regarding Pedestrian and Cyclist prioritisation. Great to see. I had very high hopes reading this report.

2. FEEDBACK RECEIVED
The feedback received through MyPoint and at the Public Consultation event was generally very positive with the public and key stakeholders recognising the need to revitalise and transform the area. A Feedback Register was created to track and categorise the submissions received. The categories that had the most amount of comments were Pedestrian / Cyclist Prioritisation (25%), Building Use & Activation (15%), Greening & Planting (14%), Parking (13%), Materiality & Maintenance (9%) and Canopies (8%).

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

I forgot to post the network defined in the report itself here as I copy pasted stuff from the other site. These are the main arteries into and around town. 141km is an approximation of lane length. That also includes Western Distributor Road which is not colored in but makes up junctions 10-15.

020

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Firstly the report itself shows a 2% increase in car mode share during peak times. This goes against the Galway Transport Strategy goals to reduce car dependency. Supporters argue: “2% is fine, because it diverts traffic around the city centre.”

Tables showing mode share percentages in 2046 with and without ring road.

2046 AM Peak

Do-Minimum: Car 50.1%, PT 15.1%, Walk 29.8%, Cycle 5.0%
Do-Something: Car 52.0%, PT 14.3%, Walk 29.2%, Cycle 4.6%
2046 PM Peak

Do-Minimum: Car 57.6%, PT 12.9%, Walk 25.1%, Cycle 4.4%
Do-Something: Car 59.5%, PT 11.8%, Walk 24.6%, Cycle 4.1%

150

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

So now I can easily find the original question and reply which otherwise I probably never would have seen.

Screenshot of a question submitted by Councillor P. Doyle relating to a greenway as well as the reply to the question.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Replies to questions aren't currently scanned in this project but I can access meeting detail, see that there is a file with replies to questions and access the original file directly on limerick.ie

Screenshot showing meeting details. Links to original files and extract text of files are present.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

As an example, I'm interested in what discussions there have been around cycling so far this year. I can search like this and see where it has came up. I can see there was a question on the agenda regarding extending the UL greenway which is of interest to me.

Screenshot from GitHub repo showing a search for cycling related terms

Screenshot from GitHub showing text from an agenda.

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

This is built directly from the PDFs published on limerick.ie, but arranged by date + readable via GitHub's built-in search Want to find every mention of “bus lane” in 2024 meetings? You can.

Screenshot from GitHub repo showing a search for the term "bus lane"

100

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Bit crazy for something to get left like this in the city centre #Limerick bits of wood with screws and nails sticking out and all. Saw two people cross the road and walk through it. Stupid on their part yes but should never be left like that

Scrap wood left between the road and the footpath. Surrounded by cones.

000

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

A little midnight baking just in case there’s no power in the morning. #StormEowyn

Freshly baked bread beside a dutch oven.

0130

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

#iBikeiVote Feeling sick as a dog today 😷 No excuse to not get out and vote.

A bicycle behind a traffic cone with a sign reading “POLING STATION”

020

Farron Flaherty @farronf.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Terry Wogan with an audience in the fog today. #Limerick

Statue of Terry Wogan in Limerick on a foggy day with a large amount of pigeons in front of it.

010