How revealing

Bicycle tax break abused

There seems something particularly Irish about the report that 60% of those who availed of the €34m Bike to Work Scheme never used the bicycle bought under the scheme to get to work. A well-meaning tax-back scheme put in place to encourage a healthy lifestyle, reduce car dependence and fuel usage, as well as making towns and cities more humane was turned into a bit of an early Christmas swizz: we got a new shiny bike half funded by the tax man, and what matter if we never used it for what it was intended? What’s not to like?

This issue may not topple the Government, immediately anyway, but it shows a mindset that maybe we should review. After all we can hardly poke a stick in Government’s eye over water charges or the USC if there’s a brand new bike bought under this scheme gathering dust in the garage.

That more than half of those who availed of the scheme did not comply with its terms points again to the pretty weak civic morality that has done so much harm. Though hardly a catastrophe this dishonesty points again to why we have faced one crisis after another in our public affairs.