Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of mobility plans and the expansion of cycling and pedestrian networks nationwide. [25921/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport I am very much committed to improving and developing active travel infrastructure. The new Programme for Government – Our Shared Future sets out an ambitious and wide-ranging set of commitments in relation to walking and cycling, supported by an increased multi-annual budgetary allocation amounting to some €1.8 billion over the lifetime of the Government to provide improved active travel infrastructure in our major cities.

As the Deputy is aware, in response to the COVID-19 Emergency the National Transport Authority ( NTA ) wrote to all 31 local authorities offering its financial and technical support for the development of mobility plans and importantly to also support the local authorities in their delivery of required infrastructure improvements. This support is being funded through my Department's sustainable mobility investment programme.

The approach taken was to engage with all local authorities to see what their requirements were and to grant aid in full various temporary intervention proposals, subject to those proposals being agreed with the NTA in advance of implementation. I am delighted to say that a number of local authorities have availed of this funding and measures have been implemented right across the country.

Building on that work, the Government announced a stimulus package in July of this year and as part of that package I was delighted to announce additional funding to support active travel. All local authorities were again invited to apply for this funding.

In addition local authorities funded under my Department’s regional and local road maintenance and renewal grant programme were able to apply for funding in relation to climate change adaptation measures. Following consideration of applications received, allocations were announced and are available to view at:

and

I look forward to building on this work in 2021 and beyond and working with all stakeholders as we seek to bring about a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland.