Dr. Colm Byrne:

There is certainly much more that could be done. There is a push to try to have more of an emphasis on preventative medicine as part of Sláintecare, but that is at a very early stage of development in this country. There are wide-ranging health benefits to cycling and a lot more could be done. Staff within the health services could do much more. There are opportunities, when doing home visits and things like that, to use a bike rather than have to hop in a car. That could be enabled. There are certain incentives, such as getting paid more in expenses if someone drives a car. If that person drives a bigger engine car, he or she gets even more payments per mile or per kilometre for driving. The same benefits are not there for cycling so people are incentivised to drive rather than cycle. That occurs throughout the public service. Things like that that can definitely push people towards driving rather than cycling in their day-to-day lives.

It is important that healthcare professionals and the health service provide a good example to people.