Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister of State to comment on a few figures that are in here. On the €25 million underspend on cycling and walking programmes, what is the cause of that underspend because there is definitely demand around the country and the ambition also that the Government partners share in cycling and in active transport? Is it purely down to Covid-19 delays or is it down to having sufficient resources at local authority level for the entire process, from the feasibility, design, tender, construction and planning stages? Would we not expect to see those underspends as the local authorities get better resourced? There were more than 240 positions allocated to the local authorities for the active transport schemes. Do we know if all of those allocations are now with the local authorities?