Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In March 2021 the Minister and I were delighted to launch the safe routes to school, SRTS, programme which will support active travel infrastructure for selected schools around the country. The programme aims to support walking, scooting and cycling to primary and post-primary schools and to create safer walking and cycling routes within communities. This will help alleviate congestion at school gates and increase the number of students who walk or cycle to school by providing the necessary infrastructure.

All schools were eligible to apply to the programme and information was circulated from the Departments of Education and Transport to schools nationwide. By the deadline of 16 April, 931 applications had been received from schools in every county in Ireland. Following that, 170 schools were notified on 21 June that they have been selected for inclusion in the first round of the safe routes to school programme, including eight schools in Limerick and two schools in Tipperary.

Funding of €15 million has been allocated for projects at the 170 schools included in round 1. The subsequent schools will be engaged with on a rolling basis in each local authority area. This funding is being provided from the €1.8 billion funding earmarked in the programme for Government to support sustainable transport. It is important to note that all active travel funding looks to improve links to schools where possible, not only the safe routes to school programme. The required investment at each school will be dependent on the changes required in each particular case. As most interventions at or near applicable schools will take time to implement, especially if they require planning permission, the €15 million budget will extend beyond 2022. The budget for the cycle parking element of safe routes to school programme in 2022 will be €3 million.

The schools selected were assessed against a range of criteria including school type, location and the school’s commitment to sustainable travel. Schools that have applied this year and that have not been included in the first round of funding will not be required to reapply as they will be included on a rolling basis. Thus, we will get through the first 170 and then it will be rolling after that. Hence there are no plans for an additional call for schools to join the programme.

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