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

The Senator is right. We require a variety of initiatives to get cycling to come up to the numbers we want. We need safe places to park so that you do not get that gutting feeling when you come out and your bicycle is gone. Yesterday, CIÉ announced a new Heuston quarter. It is 10 ha, so it is not small. It includes Conyngham Road and the car park around Heuston Station. It will go to planning permission next year. There will be 1,000 homes within walking distance of the Luas stop but they are putting in a 5,000-place bicycle park. This scheme is using the example of the likes of Utrecht and other incredible places where you see thousands of bicycles beside a train station. Bicycles and trains are critical and work together. It is also about people living there. A bicycle gives someone 15-minute connectivity. Someone could get down to the Point theatre from there in 15 minutes or get to St. Stephen's Green or Castleknock. You have huge connectivity. It goes back to the 15-minute city and transport-orientated development. A lot of people would sign up for that. The advantage is that if we provide good-quality safe infrastructure along the Liffey, and we are starting that, we will be surprised how quickly people will take to it.

Greenways are not just for tourists. They are for local people. They are about creating a safe space where people feel comfortable. The coastal cycle route in Dún Laoghaire, which was mentioned earlier, is an example of this revolutionary change because it allows people to bring kids and older people out. There is a disability access scheme near the centre of the route. Older people, people with disabilities and younger families are starting to get used to cycling. Once you get used to it, you realise that it is a fantastic way of getting around our city. Dublin is much drier than Copenhagen or Amsterdam. Dublin is not as cold and dark as those cities. It is just as flat with a few exceptions. Mount Merrion might be a tough-----