I keep expecting no more of these stories. Maybe the increasing number of them is a good sign for the environment.
You might remember the news items about Ireland and the catholic cult’s reduced attendance due to the pandemic. Now they have another problem: the loss of parking spaces on public roads.
In Fingal County, a protected bicycle lane has been created to allow cyclists (mostly commuters, children, and families) to use the roads safely. This cycling lane comes at the cost of parking spaces along a stretch of road, which would require the catholics to park elsewhere and walk.
They’re griping that it’s “not viable given our age profile”. Translation: the only people attending church are the old and wealthy, and they want everything for themselves, even at the expense of children’s safety. And since they are all old, they’re not going to live as long as the kids they want to endanger.
I don’t see how this is a problem.
Right to worship being overtaken by right to cycle, church elder claims
The “right to worship is being overtaken by the right to cycle” under plans to install a segregated cycle path on the Howth Road in Dublin, the local Presbyterian church has said.
Fingal County Council plans to install bollards from Howth to Sutton to segregate the cycle lane from traffic. The intervention will prevent on-street parking for several kilometres, including in the area in front of the Victorian church.
Church elder Michael Sparksman said the congregation comes from a wide area across north Dublin and many elderly parishioners would be cut off from the church if unable to access it by car.
“The council suggested people walk, cycle or take public transport but that is really not viable given our age profile and the distances people come from,” he said.
[. . .]
“The council suggested parents could park in Howth and walk with the children. That would take 15-20 minutes, and what are they to do in the rain? It is an attitude that beggars belief and borders on arrogance,” he said.
In a statement, the council said the installation of bollards was “intended to improve road safety and create a safe environment for vulnerable road users and children to safely walk or cycle”.
I thought the conservative / catholic manta was “personal responsibility”.
Why didn’t this club buy land for a parking lot when they built their clubhouse?
They could tear down their clubhouse and build a parking garage with a clubhouse on top.
They just want to exploit secular society to pay for paved roads they want without having to pay for them.
Because they didn’t care about old people when they built it. They expected the young to breed like rabbits and produce paying replacements. Now catholicism is like harley davidson, desperately hanging on to its wealthy but ageing customers.
“Why didn’t this club buy land for a parking lot when they built their clubhouse?”
This is a Victorian era church. In Victorian times, most people walked everywhere.
“They could tear down their clubhouse and build a parking garage with a clubhouse on top.”
Tear down a 200 year old building just to get a small parking lot? I’m an atheist, but I respect historical preservation too much to endorse that.
“They just want to exploit secular society to pay for paved roads they want without having to pay for them.”
I don’t live in Ireland, but when I pay my taxes, nobody asks me what my religious beliefs are. Paved roads are paid for by ALL the people, many more of whom are believers of some stripe than atheists.
I don’t know the details of this situation, and neither do you. I do know that infrastructure changes almost always harm some people even if they benefit many more. Just assuming that the religious group must be the bad guys in this situation seems unjustified given the info we have right here, right now.
Apparently, the building is only 121 years old, but my objection to tearing it down remains.