Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If we were at 10% of all trips on bikes, I would say that was fine and that something was happening, but we are not. There is a major pent-up demand that would mean cycling would take off if we had some political leadership. I will be honest. There is real embarrassment in the cycling community about the prospect of Velo-City 2019. I have been to it and it is a great conference but we now have the embarrassing situation of Velo-City 2019 coming here when nothing, and I mean nothing, is happening on the ground.

I hope it might steer a change in the Minister's mind and in his Department that our ambition must be scaled up. Scaling up our ambition would bring all sorts of benefits. I refer to economic, environmental, social and health benefits. The truth, however, is that there are more schoolgirls driving themselves to school than cycling at the moment. The conditions on the roads in this city and in every other city in the country are atrocious. The Minister needs to do something about it rather than pretending it is all going fine.

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