Mr. Alan Downey:

On cycling to school, people of all ages cycling, infrastructure in new estates and so on, I cycle my two children to school every day on a specially designed bike. I cycled to Leinster House earlier after dropping them off. We go from a 1990s estate in Fingal, through a 1990s estate within the Dublin City Council area and end up in a very modern estate on the border between the Dublin City Council area and Fingal. The quality of infrastructure on the journey varies vastly. There are completely unsegregated and very narrow lanes, a very wide lane and a lovely greenway through the new estate. We had to campaign for the greenway to be opened when the school was finished. The builders did not wish to open it until the houses were finished, but they had to do so to allow access to the school. The ongoing building work means that heavy equipment is parked on cycle lanes for the entire length of the road from Donaghmede roundabout to Belmayne.

We have looked into initiating cycle-buses. I have worked with parents in other parts of Fingal on these. The infrastructure is so fragmented that even though a cycle-bus is intended to compensate for a lack of infrastructure for children cycling to school, there are certain points and junctions through which we could not bring a cycle-bus of children. The cycle-bus would end up starting so close to the school that it would serve no purpose. I fully agree with the Deputy on fragmentation and the catch-up that is required to integrate older infrastructure with the wonderful greenways and green lanes that are built in new estates but not fully connected with existing infrastructure.