
Inside Cycling Ireland: Crisis, Reform and the Road Ahead With CEO James Quilligan
From The Roadman Cycling Podcast by Anthony Walsh
June 3, 2026 · 1h 38m · Episode 1283
About this episode
Anthony Walsh interviews Cycling Ireland CEO James Quilligan about the challenges and future of Irish cycling.
Go check out our FREE Skool community, it's got amazing tools in there and a thriving community of cyclists - https://www.skool.com/roadman/about Today Anthony is joined by Cycling Ireland CEO James Quilligan for a no-holds-barred conversation about the state and future of Irish cycling. James came into the role at a difficult time, with questions around falling membership, financial pressure, staff morale and trust between Cycling Ireland, clubs, provinces and riders. In this interview, Anthony asks him directly about the decline in members, the reduced number of road races, the new categorisation system, and whether domestic road racing can be rebuilt. They also get into the positive stories: the rise of women’s elite racing, Irish riders making history at the Tour de France Femmes, the growth of gravel and the Coillte access issue, youth development, community bike rides, and what Cycling Ireland is doing to make the sport more inclusive, sustainable and attractive for the next generation. It’s an honest conversation about what has gone wrong — and what might finally be moving in the right direction. One of the tools you will have heard Anthony chat about in this podcast is…
People in this episode
Host: Anthony Walsh
Guest: James Quilligan
Topics covered
- Irish cycling
- membership decline
- road racing
- women's elite racing
- youth development
- community bike rides
- inclusivity in sports
Keywords
- Cycling Ireland
- James Quilligan
- Irish cycling
- road racing
- women's racing
- youth development
- Training Peaks
Sponsors
Training Peaks
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Cycling Ireland
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