I dont have much sympathy for cyclists, they dont pay tax
Really? Do you check their Revenue status as they fly past you when you are stuck in traffic?
Here's a shocker - most of them do pay tax. A good number of them pay motor tax, just like you, but they don't have time to wait around stuck in traffic. A few of them pay more tax than you, because they have better jobs and/or bigger cars. But the tax issue is a red herring - there is no mention of tax in the rules of the road.
What risk? There is a big empty road ahead of me and I do tend to use my eyes to see if the coast is clear.
I am not talking about trying to go 0-60mph in 5 seconds, I just want to take off a lot faster than a cyclist does!
If there is a big empty road ahead of you, you'll have no problem overtaking the cyclist within a few seconds. So perhaps you need to dig deeper to see what's bugging you. Is there perhaps some inbuilt resentment that somebody else has just got ahead of you?
To be clear I am talking about cyclists who pull the bike in front of the car when there are no road marking and sometimes no left turns either. I dont have any need to "gun it away", I just prefer to drive at my own pace and not that of a cyclist.
Perhaps you should consider private roads, so you can drive at your own pace all the time. Do you get narked when you come up behind another car/truck/motorbike in traffic and you have to drive at their pace?
What I do think are the worst and even less predictable are the pedestrians - particularly the pedestrians who have returned to the road wearing school uniforms recently.
These usually travel in groups - the long haired, skirted ones have a habit of putting their face to the kerb edge and doing banshee screams at passing cyclists. The trouser-wearing grubbier ones tend to jump onto the cycle lane or road and wander there for a lot longer than they need to as cyclists (which they have seen) approach.
Why do they think verbal assault and/or obstruction are hilarious?
There are a few options here. It would be easy enough to cycle round past them, and then take their picture on your phone. Send it off to the school principal and let them know the fine example that their little darlings are giving on the street. Or consider getting to know the biking and/or community garda at your station, and find a way to get him/her involved.
OP - it's a nice idea, cycling to work.
However, I would suggest just go back to driving. I tried cycling in Dublin once. I soon returned to driving, at least I'd have some hope in a collision.
This is fatalistic nonsense. The more people cycle, the safer cycling gets. Get on yer bike and leave the cars stuck in traffic. Stay well away from trucks and your chance of serious injury is minimal.
I now live in rural Ireland and would never consider cycling. I was, however, thinking of getting a bike using the new tax incentive, for use when I go on holidays to other countries.
This would be tax fraud. The cycle-to-work scheme is for cycling to work, funnily enough.
If only it was just 2 seconds - then no-one reasonable would mind. But often across the junction is an oncoming queue of traffic waiting for the light to go green as well - and on narrow city (and suburban) streets, it can be a looong queue of traffic at certain times of the day. So if you don't get past the cyclist at the junction, you could be stuck behind them for ages with no hope of getting past because of constant oncoming traffic on a narrow road. I know it's not going to make my head explode having to wait but it is frustration like this that lead to impatience with cyclists. Haven't creamed anyone myself - just explaining the rationale for being peed off at the cyclist plonking himself at the front of the queue.
There are few enough city streets where there isn't room for a car to comfortably pass a cyclist. Perhaps you should be peed off at the parked cars taking up all that space, or the cars coming the other direction etc. Why pick on the cyclist?
But back to the OP, it is great to hear that the excellent advice that you got about 'taking the lane' worked. Assertive cycling is essential in cities for your own protection. Get the John Franklin book 'Cyclecraft' from your local library for great guidance on safe cycling.