Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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94. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the situation regarding the lack of staff and funding leading to Dublin City Council being unable to have safe school zones outside secondary schools, given the backlog for primary schools; the steps his Department is taking to speed up the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5932/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to active travel infrastructure. The NTA along with the relevant local authorities, are responsible for the development and delivery of individual projects.

In March 2021, I launched the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme as a response to the need to improve safety at the ‘front of school’ environment and enhance access to school grounds. 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.

The Programme is funded by my Department through the National Transport Authority (NTA) and is supported by the Department of Education. An Taisce’s Green-Schools is coordinating the programme, while funding will be made available to local authorities who will play a key part in delivering the infrastructure along access routes and at the school gate.

931 applications were received from primary and secondary schools across every county in Ireland. 167 schools form Round 1 of the Programme with a further 108 schools having been selected for inclusion in Round 2. It should be noted that all schools that applied to the original call for applications were accepted into the programme, and if not selected in the first two rounds will be selected at a later stage without the need to reapply.

To assist and expand the Safe Routes to School Programme, approval was given for the recruitment of five new staff with An Taisce, on top of the existing seven, financed through the Active Travel budget. This will enable the timely processing of SRTS projects.

In terms of wider resourcing, you may be aware that in 2021 I provided sanction for almost 250 additional dedicated local authority staff for Active Travel projects. I understand that recruitment has been difficult in some areas due to the overarching problem of labour market shortages and my Department continues to liaise with the NTA to address these issues. I am pleased to note that as of 30 September 2022 over 210 of these additional staff are now in place. This should help to speed up the pace of delivery for Active Travel projects around the country, following significant financial investment by Government in the past four years.

It is also worth noting that the funding available to local authorities for walking and cycling infrastructure has increased significantly in the past four years, with €290 million being allocated to the National Transport Authority to fund local authority active travel projects across the country this year, including Dublin City Council (DCC). Almost €60m has been allocated to DCC this year which will help to improve the safety and comfort of pedestrians and cyclists, including primary and secondary school students, in our capital city through the provision of new and improved walking and cycling infrastructure.