Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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92. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to outline the plans to progress active travel both in urban and rural Ireland; the plans for Kerry in particular; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55868/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to Active Travel infrastructure. The National Transport Authority (NTA) along with the relevant local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of individual projects.

The Government is committed to promoting and enabling walking and cycling across the country with around €360 million provided for Active Travel and Greenways this year alone, supporting projects in every Local Authority. The vast majority of this funding is allocated to the National Transport Authority (NTA) through the Department of Transport for its Active Travel Infrastructure Programme. I was delighted to secure the same amount of funding for Active Travel and Greenways in Budget 2026, meaning that we can continue to progress walking and cycling projects around the country into next year.

Of the 2025 funding, Kerry County Council have received €2.75 million. As part of the allocations determination, the NTA liaises with each local authority to fully understand the projects being proposed by the local authority and its considerations in terms of priorities.

In general, the main focus of active travel investment will be to support high quality walking and cycling infrastructure, for everyday trips, in villages, towns and cities, particularly in designated growth settlements, with a view to promoting the greatest potential modal shift to active travel.

Given the ramping up of activities over the last few years in the Active Travel area, the number of projects being progressed now exceeds the level of funding made available to the NTA. Accordingly, the NTA is unable to fully fund all proposed Active Travel projects and has to prioritise certain projects over others in order to remain within its allocated budget. While a project may not be selected by the NTA for funding in a particular year, it may be funded in subsequent years.