Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank Senator Currie for the opportunity to address the Seanad to talk about the Dublin canal loop greenway. The programme for Government sets out an ambitious and wide-ranging set of commitments on walking and cycling and has committed that over €360 million in cross-government funding will be spent on walking and cycling per annum over the lifetime of the Government, equivalent to 20% of the 2020 transport capital budget. This investment will help support the planned delivery of almost 1,000 km of improved walking and cycling infrastructure by 2025, as well as additional investment in greenways.

The Minister for Transport announced an allocation earlier this year of €289 million for active travel in 2022, in addition to an investment of €60 million for greenways. This year’s allocation builds on significant progress in recent years. Expenditure on and delivery of active travel, as funded by the Department, has increased substantially, quadrupling from circa€45 million in 2019 to €184 million in 2021. The Department has also recently published its sustainable mobility strategy with a list of actions that will guide public investment in the coming years, promoting and creating an environment that encourages more walking and wheeling, with a great use of public transport supported by services such as increased bike parking and shared bike schemes and by bringing in reduced fares on public transport. Not only should walking and cycling infrastructure be safe and accessible for all, it should also form part of a wider sustainable mobility network which will allow people to travel in and around our cities using the sustainable modes of transport of their choice. This must be taken into consideration by the Department, the NTA and the relevant local authorities when allocating funding to new active travel or greenway infrastructure projects. The Department of Transport is working with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and the NTA to develop a national cycle network which will ensure that investments are focused in an efficient manner and which should outline the cycling routes that are currently available across the country, identify gaps in the network and ascertain the improvements that are likely to be required.

With regard to the canal loop urban greenway, substantial sections of the loop are already completed, including Portobello to Grand Canal Dock, Guild Street to the Royal Canal, Royal Canal phase 2, which is Sheriff Street to North Strand Road, and Royal Canal Ashtown to Castleknock. There are also a number of sections of the canal loop urban greenway on the NTA's active travel capital programme which are in development, including Royal Canal phase 3, which is North Strand Road to Phibsborough, Royal Canal phase 4, which is Phibsborough to Ashtown, Royal Canal Castleknock to Kildare border and the canal loop greenway from Lucan to the Grand Canal. Any sections of the loop not completed or in planning are included on the latest greater Dublin area cycle network and will thus be considered to be added to the capital programme in the coming years.

To conclude, a lot of work has already taken place on sections of this route, a lot of work is ongoing and where work has not commenced it will commence in the coming years. The completion of this work will see a connected, continuous route that will benefit commuters, leisure cyclists and tourists in the coming years and provide safe, segregated cycling infrastructure that will attract even more people out of their cars and onto bicycles for journeys to work, to school and just for the pleasure of cycling.

Senator Currie has raised an important issue. It is an issue on which a great deal of work has taken place. I see it in my area with the Sligo greenway and the many greenways we want to connect villages and towns. I hope we can be like Germany or Holland and just see this as a normal way of travelling into the city. There are big opportunities here. It has already started and that the Senator is anxious to see it progressed as quickly as possible. It is a very commendable view, and a view that this Government is committed to delivering.