Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept fully what the Deputy said about cycling. I do not question his commitment to cycling and if he says I was slow about implementing the statutory instrument, I will accept that criticism in some ways. I am a convert to cycling. I took some time to be converted to the urgency not only for the imperative of the modal shift, which must be more dramatic, but also for all the bells and whistles that go with that shift. I am a convert to the need to not only protect our cyclists but to encourage people to get out of their cars and on to bicycles, and that is working. It may not be working fast enough for the Deputy but it will accelerate during my tenure.

On the suggestions the Deputy has made, I am not in any way hesitant to say that I was not persuaded of the need for the minimum passing distance by a large number of the groups led by Phil Skelton and others. I was being educated and I have been converted to the need to transfer people to bicycles and to protect them.

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