Dr. Damien Ó Tuama:

It is a tough question. I have cycled from Clonakilty to Inchydoney beach. I am aware of groups in Bandon, Skibbereen and Kinsale that are also looking for safe cycling routes. Building up community support for them is important. Consider the example of the Waterford–Dungarvan greenway. Kilmacthomas, which is on the route, has benefited greatly from all the additional visitors owing to coffee shops, pubs, bike shops, restaurants and local attractions. The local community needs to see the benefit of having good-quality routes. Maybe the main benefit for locals is not having to drive children to school. A child should be able to cycle to school by himself or herself. There needs to be a little bit of selfish interest. Maybe it is about freeing up people's time by not requiring them to drive children to school. I do not know what the local school bus situation is in Clonakilty. These are the main points that spring to mind.

Land use is very specific to each country. I do not think we can transpose examples from other countries as easily as we might think. Ideally, it is a question of using public land, including disused railway lines, Coillte lands and routes alongside rivers.

I am conscious of the difficulty of the CPO issue. That is all I have to say on that point.