Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is the same with the Royal Canal. We have had reports, studies and analysis, and we have all gone off to Utrecht and looked at best practice, but yet we have singularly failed to make a change. We have bits and pieces. We have green flags at every school but the number of people cycling to school in particular has gone into freefall. There seems to be a correlation between having more green flags and a drop in the number of schoolchildren cycling. There are green flags for transport. We are all flags but no substance.

There is a budget issue but it cannot just be that. What is it that is stopping us making the radical change? What is behind the disregard for this issue? Many of the witnesses have been campaigning for years. In their opinion, what is the biggest obstacle? We have €250 million for widening a road between Westport and Castlebar. That amount would sort every school in Galway and Mayo with safe routes to school. It would transform the county if we were to put it into active walking and cycling. Why is it that we keep putting €250 million into road widening? As Mr. Ferrie said, that makes for more and more cars. It is a never-ending car-based system. What is behind that? What needs to change? It is not the technical knowledge because we know what we have to do to make roads safe. What is stopping us from doing it?