Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I take on board what Mr. Ryan has said about the urban areas but if we go back to the road issue that is exactly my point because in the rural areas where there are upgrades it is not happening. It is something that needs to be looked at by the Department because it was a missed opportunity in this area for the simple reason that the infrastructure was put in place for people to walk and cycle on but the infrastructure to facilitate people walking and cycling when they come home from work was not put in place. If we are trying to depopulate areas such as Galway city and make it more attractive to live out in the more rural areas it is imperative that we have the key infrastructure in place to facilitate and entice people to move out to the country.

There was another issue with greenways and the executive role of councils and of county managers. I wonder about the planning process on a national level. Is there a framework document for it? Mr. Ryan has talked there about promoting walking and cycling, the accessibility of public spaces and proximity to new developments and he says that Louth is an age friendly county but is there a matrix for county managers to say that they should be setting county targets for being age friendly, moving more people, being more accessible or being more disability orientated? Is the opportunity there to pick up the gauntlet for as long as the county development plan is in place that the county will move to improve certain aspects within the plan? In this area I am looking at greenways, are they ever prioritised?