A Green Party Councillor called two TDs and a fellow Councillor "spineless cowards" over the shortening of bollards along a cycle lane.
SuperValu in Ranelagh claimed the new cycling bollards along Ranelagh Road were preventing trucks from parking outside the shop when making deliveries. The manager of the supermarket emailed local TDs Jim O'Callaghan and Ivana Bacik and Councillor Dermot Lacey outlining his concerns, according to a report in IrishCycle.com.
The representatives emailed Dublin City Council officials and requested the issue be "resolved", but in a tweet sharing the cycling news website's article, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Green Councillor Oisin O'Connor launched an attack, calling the three representatives "spineless cowards".
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He said: "This is a well-used route by my constituents and myself in and out of town too. Jim O'Callaghan, Ivan Bacik and Dermot Lacey have defended putting us in danger by pressuring the council to allow trucks to block the way for people cycling. Spineless cowards the three of you."
He added: "Don't any one of you come back with this 'I'm a cyclist myself' nonsense. You're not elected to cycle your bike, you're elected to act with integrity. And you've shown here that you have none."
Cllr Lacey responded to the tweet: "The Green Party apologised to me for your previous outrageous comments. I look forward to them behaving with decency and integrity again, something you seem to have never practiced since your cooption to the Council."
Cllr O'Connor said: "I make my comments on behalf of myself here Dermot. You clearly have a different interpretation of integrity to me Dermot."
The Labour man responded: "I'll leave the electorate to decide", to which Cllr O'Connor wrote: "If you're selected to run."
"I will be seeking election again," answered Cllr Lacey.
It isn't the first time Cllr O'Connor's tweets have gotten him into trouble. He previously apologised to Limerick TD Willie O'Dea for calling him a 'racist b****x' on the social media platform.
In his apology, he said it was an "off the cuff " remark. However, he stood over his comments over the bollards when approached by Dublin Live - and suggested the three representatives were "hypocritical".
He told Dublin Live: "That's my opinion that what they have done is spineless and cowardly. Politicians that say they are in favour of sustainable transport need to be consistent with that, otherwise they are just being hypocritical."
He added: "Essentially, we need safe cycle routes in and out of the city, and if politicians are going to be pressuring the Council to block those routes with delivery trucks then that is going to be a safety issue for people trying to get in and out of the city by bike."
It is also not Cllr O'Connor's first run in with Cllr Lacey. Senior Green Party representatives apologised to Cllr Lacey for comments made by Cllr O'Connor in 2021 - after he was coopted onto Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
The Green Cllr told Cllr Lacey: "Blood is on your hands you absolute coward" in the reply section of a tweet by a pro-cycling account which sought to link injuries sustained by a cyclist to the public debate over safe cycling infrastructure.
Cllr Lacey told Dublin Live he doesn't know why Cllr O'Connor posts "abusive comments". He said: "I don't know him well enough to know why he throws out these sort of abusive comments but they are a bit unacceptable.
He added: "In fairness, they don't reflect the relationship I have with most of the Greens on Dublin City Council. I work really well with the leaders of the Green group on the Council and [Cllr] Claire Byrne and people like that."
Dublin Live has contacted the Green Party for comment.
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