Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My experience is that if there is push back from one or two landowners, the local authority will not go there and thinks it will be too difficult. My village is 10 km outside Castlebar, which has a large urban population. I would cycle that distance if there was somewhere safe to do so; it is not a long distance to cycle. There seems to be no vision to connect towns and villages. Many counties do not have rural transport and all a person might have is his or her car. We talk of reducing emissions, having a greener environment, tackling obesity and changing our culture around how we transport from A to B. The basics should include giving people a safe place by which to travel. It is almost as though the authorities are saying, "Oh great, we have something on which to rely as to why we cannot do it". I do not believe that my local authority is any different; every local authority is the same. The priority is always the same - roads. We have not changed the mindset to demonstrated cycleways and greenways are equally important. This is a statement rather than a question. I thank Mr. Ryan for his answers to my earlier queries.