Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The policy document, Smarter Travel — A Sustainable Transport Future, I launched last week commits to creating a strong culture of cycling to the extent that modal share of cycling will increase from 2% in 2006 to 10% by 2020. This equates to a rise in daily cycle commuting from 35,000 to 160,000 by 2020.

Action 15 of the policy commits to the publication of a national cycle policy framework, which I will do shortly. The framework will not only be a comprehensive response to current difficulties faced by the cycling community in terms of road priority and safety issues, but will also prove to be a springboard to creating a culture of cycling. Among the issues to be addressed are the creation of traffic-free urban centres to facilitate cycling, cycle training for schoolchildren, the integration of cycling with other transport modes and investment in a national cycle network with urban networks given priority.

Some progress is already being made on cycling networks. Fáilte Ireland assists in the development of cycling trails and I am committed to progressing a flagship project, such as the Sutton-Sandycove route. The development of an integrated national network will take place over a longer period of time and the proposed national cycle policy framework will address the issue further.

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