Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Maybe we need a policy office in the Department. We basically have a structured design team within the NTA. That is not what I understood the office to be. It is specific to infrastructure. Ms Hanlon mentioned all the good things taking place in education, challenging stigma and normalising cycling, to which Deputy Eamon Ryan referred. That is all great but people are interested in the delivery of infrastructure. I will move on because other members want to contribute.

On the money that is available, Ms Hanlon mentioned a sum of €100 million for active travel. Senator Lombard, in a press release after the budget, stated €114 million had been made available for cycling through funding for greenways. As we heard earlier, Cycling.iehas done an analysis showing that in 2018 the budget for cycling would be about 3% of the transport budget.

If we note the percentages from the total land transport budget for 2020, the amount is €1.82 billion. In the past, subheading B8 was for sustainable transport, and approximately 32.26% of that budget in previous years was allocated to it. That would put the figure at approximately €587 million, which would mean approximately €17.62 million would come towards this area. If we add to that the €23 million for greenways, that adds up to approximately €41 million. Other figures have been given that would bring it closer to €50 million, which is less than 3% and closer to 2.25% or 2.5% of the budget. How does Ms Hanlon categorise expenditure on cycling and what are the real figures? We have Senator Lombard's figure of €114 million and Ms. Hanlon's figure of €100 million in terms of active travel. However, taking account of the figure from Cycling.ie, from what we heard from our guests earlier this morning and my calculations, the figure is somewhere between €40 million and €50 million, including greenways, which are as much to do with tourism as transport.