Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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204. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of schools enrolled in the safe routes to school programme in 2022; the number of schools waiting to be enrolled; the number of schools enrolled in the programme by county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24281/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In March 2021, I was delighted to launch, with Minister Naughton 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^thApril 2021, 932 applications had been received from schools in every county in Ireland. 170 schools were notified on 21^stJune that they have been selected for inclusion in the first round of the SRTS Programme. The table below sets out the number of schools by local authority included in round 1 and subsequent rounds of the programme.

€15m has been allocated for projects at the 170 schools included in Round One. 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 Active Travel funding generally seeks 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/near applicable schools will take time to implement, particularly if they require planning permission, the €15m budget will extend beyond 2022. The budget for cycle parking element of SRTS in 2022 will be €3m. Cycle parking is also an important element of the Safe Routes to School Programme and I am pleased to say that in 2021 cycle parking was installed at 154 schools both in Round 1 schools and remaining schools within the programme.

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 and have not been included in the first round of funding will not be required to reapply as they will come into the Programme on a rolling basis.