The Gazette 1993

MARCH 1993

GAZETTE

agents, bookstalls and tourist centres, as to the availability of this publication and recommending it. I don't get any commission but I hope to get a free copy of his next publication entitled "Cycling Irish Style Around Scotland". At £5.99 it is good value. You can keep it for years and unless we have another ice age, it will be as relevant in fifty years as today; it does not have any inbuilt obsolescence. Frank O'Donnell. • FLAC Lobbies on Legal Aid In a pre-budget submission to the Government, the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) highlighted the inadequacies and inconsistencies of the Social Welfare Service. FLAC said that one third of the population is dependant on welfare payments for their income, yet their needs are not considered when legislation is being drafted. Much of the law in this area is complex, yet claimants are specifically excluded from availing of Legal Aid when appealing a decision of the Department of Social Welfare. FLAC said the Legal Aid Scheme must be expanded to cover Social Welfare and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. In its submission FLAC noted with interest the commitment in the Programme for Government in respect of equal access to the law and that this is now to be the respoonsibility of the new Minister for Equality Mervyn Taylor. " The recognition of the need to guarantee equal access to the law irrespective of income is long overdue and we hope that this will lead to real progress in the development of a comprehensive scheme of Civil Legal Aid and advice." While welcoming the proposal to, place, at last, the Scheme of Civil Legal Aid on a statutory footing, FLAC pointed out that it is now five years since the then Minister for Justice, Gerard Collins, first made this promise. "Since then there has been history of subsequent Ministers making the same promise without action. We hope that this time the promise will not be broken." •

miles, to where the road goes north between the Mweelrea Mountains and Ben Gorm/Sheeffry Hills. After 1.5 miles Delphi is passed and then Doolough, after which the road rises over a low pass to reveal, on a fine day, stunning views of the Atlantic with Inishturk, Clare Island and Achill to the north west." This publication, while directed primarily at cyclists coming from abroad is very useful reading for anyone thinking of taking a short cycle trip of say thirty to forty miles. It is almost essential reading for those embarking on a leg of the Grand Tour, i.e. 35 day coastal trip around Ireland, doing approximately forty miles per day.

Irish Cycling Guide

by Brendan Walsh. Gill and Macmillan, 1992, 135pp £5.99 paperback. To those unfamiliar with reading maps, Brendan Walsh, solicitor, mountain climber, cyclist and raconteur, brings years of practical experience to bear on the topic. His book makes reading a map such as a Michelin 1:400,000, (approximately 1 inch to 6.3 miles), covering the entire country and an Ordnance Survey Map, scale 1:50,000 and 1:25,000, like reading an adventure novel, because it has certain alluring information with an underlying suggestiveness.

and the lows of cycling!

The author Brendan Walsh, experiences the highs . . . Brendan's knowledge of the countryside, his attention to detail, e.g. page 91 "after Belturbet take the T52 (signposted Clones) on a road of potholes 4.1 miles east etc." illuminates some trips which might otherwise be drudgery. He grades the different trips, one to four star, much like the Michelin Restaurants that he frequents, on his not infrequent trips to France. There is a very accurate description of the Clifden/Westport via Doolough trip, graded four star as follows:- "The more adventurous should go back along the Northshore of Killary Harbour past the beautiful Aasleagh Falls, on the R335/L100, for three

The book provides very useful material on accommodation, youth hostels, camping, B & Bs, etc. in addition to suggestions about getting there by train, bus, package tours, and rules and road markings. Tourism is such an important part of our economy and this publication is a small but important contribution towards our tourism. His choice of title "Irish Cycling Guide", rather than "Cycling Guide to Ireland", I have no doubt, was motivated by the fact that Brendan felt some potential readers would be left under the impression that it might be a humorous book, cycling Irish style. It is not.

I get great pleasure, both at home and abroad, enquiring from travel