Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Deputy says. It is indisputably true that the safer the roads are for cyclists, the more cyclists there will be. Perhaps because I did not finish my first reply, I did not spell out some of the other intentions we have for cycling and the commitments we have made. The €110 million is a trebling of the amount to be spent on walking and cycling. The Deputy is correct that we did not allocate enough to cycling and we have a great deal of catching up to do. We are well behind many countries. I also acknowledge all the benefits of cycling she mentioned. I said earlier to Deputy Troy that I have bought in to cycling. It is something we have to spend money on and commit to for all sorts of reasons, not only the obvious ones but also for health reasons.

BusConnects, which is coming through in Dublin and which we will debate later this evening, will deliver more than 200 km of cycle lanes on the key radial routes into Dublin city centre. These will provide for safe cycling arrangements and will be largely segregated, which is what the Deputy seeks. They will not be completely segregated but, wherever practical, they will be largely segregated. That is a major commitment, not only to cyclists but also to cyclists' safety. We are spending approximately €750 million on BusConnects, of which cycling is a large and important ingredient.

We are also spending a large amount of money on greenways. We have made a capital allocation of more than €55 million to greenways, which will obviously be a commitment to cyclists. A further €135 million in capital funding has been allocated to sustainable transport for the period ahead.

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