Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Transport his plans to improve cycle facilities in Dublin in view of the high levels of informal cycle parking in the city centre indicating an insufficient number of cycle parking facilities and the correlative huge increase in bicycle thefts in 2005. [36060/05]

Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to promoting cycling, as is made clear in the Programme for Government, and it is Government policy to make provision for the bicycle as a separate mode in the design and maintenance of roads. The provision of cycle ways and cycle parking is, in the first instance, a matter for the relevant local authorities.

In the greater Dublin area, GDA, funding for cycling is provided to local authorities in the area through the Dublin Transportation Office, DTO, traffic management grants scheme. Some €29 million has been provided by the Exchequer for the provision of cycling facilities in the GDA since 1994. Overall, there are now 300 kilometres of cycle networks in the GDA.

There is evidence of a decline in cycling over recent years, although the decline in the greater Dublin area, where cycling investment is highest, is not as pronounced as in other cities. Funding for cycling facilities will be provided through the enhanced traffic management grants provision in Transport 21, subject to the outcome of a review of cycling policy, including the effectiveness of existing public investment.