We need to put brakes on obsession with car as mode of transport

HE has €2 zipped into his pocket, enough for the fanciest ice-cream in the local shop. He takes his bike from against the wall and off he goes.

He has been told to cycle straight home to his parents who will be waiting rather anxiously because he’s autistic, so although he’s 12 this is his first ever trip to the shops on his own. Our annual summer holiday on Inishbofin island off the Galway coast has made my son Tom a full citizen of this republic for the first time. There are very few cars here and when they chug along the roads they’re almost apologetic.

The walkers and the cyclists press into the hedgerows reluctantly and then take the road again. It is they, not cars, who matter.