Almost 1,400 people were hospitalised as a result of cycling crashes last year.
According to details released under the Freedom of Information Act, 367 were under the age of 19.
The figures, obtained by The Irish Mirror, also reveal how 80 were aged over 70. They had inpatient admissions in HSE hospitals.
Keen cyclist Ciaran Cannon was knocked off his bike by an SUV at Moycullen, Co Galway, in July 2021.
READ MORE - Cyclist airlifted from site of horror crash in Cork as gardaí close road
He was flung on to the bonnet of the vehicle before crashing on to the road. The Fine Gael TD got a bad knee injury and was laid up for four months.
Deputy Cannon says the new figures are 'deeply disturbing'.
He added: "They are a call to action, on all our parts, to make our roads and streets safer for cyclists and all vulnerable road users.
"People who choose the most efficient, sustainable and healthiest form of transport are suffering life-changing injuries because of the transport choices they’re making."
Deputy Cannon says no-one in government is taking the issue seriously.
"We pay lip service to road safety," he added.
"We hand out high-vis vests forgetting completely that those who need to be educated on road safety are not those vulnerable to injury, but those who cause injury. We heap all of the blame for these horrific injuries on to the victims.
"We need far better Garda enforcement of speed limits. We need urgent delivery of cycling infrastructure.
"Most of all, we need a massive culture change.
"Cyclists are not intruders on our roads and streets, to be treated as second class citizens. They are legitimate road-users trying to get home safely to their families."
While 1,373 cyclists were hospitalised as a result of crashes last year, it's a 19 per cent decrease from 1,693 in 2021.
Last year's figure includes 130 children under nine, down from 192 the previous year, which Martina Callanan, the deputy chairperson of Galway Cycling Campaign, says is very welcome.
"The growth of 'school streets' across the country is a huge success," she added. "People can feel the benefits of local authorities widening footpaths and building cycle lanes."
But Ms Callanan says some of the other figures are concerning - as 224 cyclists in their 50s were hospitalised last year and 159 in their 60s.
Ms Callanan added: "What’s truly worrying is that the highest rate of cycling injuries is in older people.
"People aged 50-59 years were the adult group with the highest number of injuries requiring acute hospital daycare or inpatient care.
"People aged over 60 years are the only group who suffered more injuries in cycling collisions than the previous year."
Like Deputy Cannon, she says urgent action is needed.
"We need safe and attractive open laneways and shortcuts between housing estates and the local post office, church, and parks," she added.
"We need to get rid of rat-running.
"We need lower speed limits in our towns and cities. We need age-friendly universal design to be at the heart of all public realm works.
"Next year, the Garda portal for uploading bicycle and dashcam footage for reporting road traffic offences is due. This will be a great help to get justice for people on bikes who suffer in a collision with cars, vans, and trucks."
Then Transport Minister, Shane Ross, introduced a new law to protect cyclists in 2019, making it an offence to 'dangerously overtake a pedal cyclist'.
You get three penalty points and a €120 fine if caught doing so.
But only 26 people got penalty points for the offence last year.
Deputy Cannon said: "That's not remotely reflective of the level of unsafe overtaking. The big problem is the lack of a straightforward online portal to submit camera footage of unsafe overtaking."
