We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
EVER HAD YOUR bike stolen? It’s a major hassle.
One TD thinks we could help combat the problem by introducing ‘bait bikes’ to help catch thieves.
The practice takes place in other jurisdictions such as London and San Francisco.
A bait bike is a relatively valuable bicycle equipped with a hidden GPS device police use to catch thieves.
The bike is left unattended or poorly locked in an area where bicycles tend to get stolen, or where other thefts have recently occurred. When it is stolen, the tracking device automatically alerts police to the theft, and where the bike is located.
When the scheme was introduced in certain colleges in the US, bike thefts reduced by up to 40%. There was a 45% drop in bikes being stolen at Cambridge rail station when a pilot programme was trialled there.
The idea has really taken off in California, with BaitBike.com’s Jason Cecchettini and Manny Leon starring in their own reality TV show about finding bike thieves ‘Caught Red Handed’.
Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin wants a similar system introduced in Ireland. He asked Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald about it in the Dáil recently.
Fitzgerald said An Garda Síochána is “proactive in encouraging the public to protect their property, including bicycles”, noting that “a range of measures are in place to prevent and tackle the theft of bicycles”.
She added that the range of measures being pursued by gardaí include working with bicycle retailers and communities to encourage and promote bicycle registration.
In addition, information leaflets on bicycle theft have been circulated and a bicycle sticker campaign has also been operated in areas where bicycles are locked by their owners.
“Gardaí also provide presentations to neighbourhood watch schemes, policing forums, schools, places of employment, and consult with apartment and building management companies on bicycle security and safety generally,” Fitzgerald said.
SFPD Anti Bike Theft / Twittertired from a long ride & thought, i'll bring my bike in from the car later. Don't do it. Bring it in NOW. Don't give thieves the opportunity
— SFPD Anti Bike Theft (@SFPDBikeTheft) February 28, 2015
A spokesperson from the Garda Press Office said they couldn’t discuss initiatives that may or may not be introduced due to ”operational reasons”.
“We advise bicycle users to exercise vigilance securing their bicycles and to report all theft or attempted theft to their local Garda station,” he stated.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
An absolute hero who gave everything and never thought of himself.
RIP, he was genuinely one of the good ones, saw through the religious divide and saw the good in everyone.
I had the honour of meeting Fr. Reid while he was at a seminary in San Sebastian in the Basque Country. The Basque people loved and admired him too. He was an inspiration and set an example for conflict resolution in that region also. Rest In Peace.
May he rest in peace. How many lives were saved because of this man’s actions? A real hero in the modern age.
Heard him described on the radio as “a fully paid up member of the human race”…cant add to that..RIP.
terrible news, he was a good man who done his best for the people in the North
He used to pop in to Comans in Rathgar to watch the football games, he never said who he was, nor I never asked him, as the match went on, he’d close his eyes for 40 winks, he never failed to say hello whilst out walking, but that wasn’t me, that was for everyone
What a contribution this man made towards the well being and safety of all of his fellow human beings on this tiny Island of ours.
Gosh, if in my lifetime I could do but a thimble full of the goodness which this man did, I would count my life as having been well worth while.
If ever there was a life worth celebrating and commemorating it would have to be the life of Alec Reid. Perhaps a scholarship in peace studies or some such educational endevour should now be considered in his honour of his memory.
We must never be allowed to forget the great good this man did in his lifetime.
The future of peace within the human family on the entire plot of land called Ireland will likely depend on it.
May you rest in peace Alec and may the good you did live on and be known to our children and our children’s children.
Nice to see a positive story about priests in news. They get a lot bad press over last few yrs,well done FR.
I believe that it was Father Alec Reid who was more instrumental than Bertie Ahern in initiating and mataining the momentum of the peace process.
Sadly, many prefer to ascribe the credit to Bertie but Bertie was not the sole mover in the peace process.
Father Red exercised personal courage, miral integrity and enormous skill in what he achieved. Many, many lives were saved as a result.
Atheist myself, but ‘God’ bless the peacemakers, of which this fine old gent was one.
If only more had the balls to act half of what he was. History will remember him to be the true architect of the good Friday agreement not the political fools that did kicking and screaming.
a sad day indeed
This priest went beyond the call of Duty. He was able to bring both sides together to try and sort out issues. That was no mean achievement. I heard an interview today on the radio it was said that he had a special gift of getting people together no matter what persuasion they were from. So I think Fr. Reid R.I.P. Deserves all the Great tributes that are being paid to him today.
Fr. Alec Reid, thank you for your unique approach that has transformed peace to this land.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam
“May his soul be on God’s right side”
He never sought attention for himself but without him the Peace Process would never have come to anything.
A true Christian in that while he always condemed the sin he loved the sinner, irrespective of who he was & the photo of him praying over the dead soldier, one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century, was truly what Christ would have done in the same circumstances.
May he rest in peace.
We lost a good man today.
Goodnight Father.
We were blessed to have this man in our Country. I heard him described today on de radio as a reluctant hero, so true. Rip
is it not interesting that we are celebrating and remembering this mans great leadership and accomplishments on the day that he dies, 50 years to the day that another leader was cut down before he could show his qualities ….
A rarity in the clergy. He was a good man
What he did was to sit on the fence. By failing to condemn he indirectly supported the murder of the innocent.
Aaaaand here we go. You and your ilk bugger off you’ve no place here. He was a great, selfless and noble man. End of.
D**khead
Yeah just like your Idol and hero the great Rev Ian Paisley who did so much to try end Sectarian violence between two tribes. One majority tribe trying to keep the other in the gutter and trying to cling to power. But your days are up Kido
Imagine being you. I’d say it is terrible.
He condemned violence on all sides, his words and more so his actions proved that. Well done good and faithful servant. May he rest in peace.
Parm can’t be bothered to write your name properly (anyone betting on the cheap return shot) you are a complete and utter ignorant Sprat ( take away the s)
His years of work for peace in Northern Ireland, will always be remembered.
RIP to a truly great man.
There have been hundreds of comments on British Ex-Services sites thanking Father Reid for his actions and wishing RIP.
Saturday around 8pm over 500 on the Royal Signals site, both soldiers wereSignals.
Father Reid carried out his duty as a Priest in an exemplary fashion.
I also believe the actions of people present at the incident showed the respect he was held in
RIP
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say