Dede Sophie

Image: Ferliana Febritasari via Pexels. The Government is planning to cut car use in cities and towns by 20pc over the next seven years by what it calls ‘demand management’ strategies, writes Brian Byrne. In a Memorandum of Information to Government today, Transport minister Eamon Ryan says the strategy will also feature ‘unprecedented’ levels of investment in public transport and active travel facilities. The strategy will take a year to complete. It was outlined as a key action in the Climate Action Plan 2023. The demand management measures will include road space reallocation, car-free zones, and user charging. Minister Ryan says the transport system today is overly-reliant on the car, bringing ‘daily traffic chaos and lower quality of life’. The strategy being developed will provide a ‘road-map’ of guiding principles for measures that could be used at local level. There will be widespread public consultation, the Memorandum brought to Government today says. 

Congrats to lucky winner – Jennifer!        Readers, please join me welcoming Maria Geraci , author of Bunco Babes Gone Wild who’s guest blogging here today! What kind of Girl are you? In my Bunco Babes books, the central characters have been friends for years. They get together every Thursday night to drink frozen margaritas, roll dice, and gossip about the inhabitants of their small north Florida town. The three main characters I introduced in the first book, Bunco Babes Tell All, were labeled as “the nice one” “the sharp one” and “the hot one”. Unconsciously as a writer, I don’t set out to create the theme for my books. Theme is something that naturally results from the plot. But after I wrote the book (and figured out what it was really about) I discovered that my main character, Kitty, had to come to grips with the eternal question of the ages. Just what kind of girl are you? Too often, like the characters in my books, we get labeled at an early age. You know the labels I’m talki