Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Hourigan for raising this matter as it gives me an opportunity to highlight the importance of active models of travel and the public realm now more than ever in the light of what we know about the Covid-19 pandemic. It is vital to ensure that timely and appropriate measures are put in place to support public health advice and best practice in response to the pandemic, including social or physical distancing.

On 22 June, my Department, working in collaboration with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, issued a circular to local and regional authorities alerting them to updated advice in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The design manual for urban roads and streets, DMURS, which was jointly launched by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in 2013, was updated on 23 June 2020 with an interim advice note. The interim advice note supports the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport's announcement of funding to deliver improved walking and cycling infrastructure throughout the country in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and supplements correspondence from the National Transport Authority, NTA, on 22 May offering technical and financial assistance to the 31 local authorities.

The interim advice note highlights a range of practical measures that can be quickly implemented to address the challenges posed by the pandemic and in particular the immediate steps towards ensuring a city, town and village centre, and other areas where pedestrians may converge, can provide an environment that is safe and welcoming in support of communities and the reopening of business.

The advice note encourages local authorities to engage with local stakeholders and communities to monitor, test and adapt schemes in the coming months to address the issues that may arise. To date, 19 local authorities have engaged with the NTA on various Covid measures, resulting in 13 formal applications requesting approximately €7 million from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The NTA is working with all cities to develop a Covid mobility framework which sets out the plans to provide widened footpaths, temporary protected cycle facilities, including new contraflow routes, revised bus routings and bus priority measures, and enhanced pedestrian priority zones.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be felt for some time and the support provided acknowledges the many challenges authorities face to ensure that streets and transport networks can safely operate. I understand that a number of local authorities are working closely with the NTA and have issued or are in the process of developing temporary transport and mobility plans and have set up teams to oversee their implementation. I encourage all local authorities to develop mobility plans as an immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Deputy may be aware that Dublin City Council has published such a plan, which is quite comprehensive, and the scale of ambition contained within it may be replicated across other cities and towns, of course factoring in local scale and context.

A positive outcome of the current circumstance is that there is now a unique opportunity for all local authorities to assess how urban spaces are being utilised and how various improvements can be made to better support local communities and businesses, not only to deal with issues arising from current restrictions but that could also have a longer term beneficial impact for everyone who uses our cities, towns and villages. I therefore call on all local authorities to take full advantage of the NTA offer of assistance, which, along with their own local expertise, will contribute to the development of the unique solutions required to maintain our way of life and deliver a safer and more sustainable urban environment.

It is also acknowledged that the broader policy context will inform and guide us as we endeavour to address the emerging consequences of Covid-19. The national planning framework, NPF, is endorsed in the programme as critical to underpin the towns first principle of balanced regional development and sustainable connectivity and mobility. It is Ireland's long-term national planning strategy to accommodate Project Ireland and the population growth for economic growth over the 20-year period to 2040.

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