Communities around Lucan, Clondalkin and Palmerstown will be better connected with safe and people-friendly corridors to visit friends, go to the shops, or cycle or walk to school, sports training and other activities, TD Emer Higgins has said. Local TD Emer Higgins was speaking following confirmation that the National Transport Authority has allocated funds to Ireland’s local authorities, with an overall fund of €290m to be spent on walking and cycling infrastructure this year with €22 million of that to be spent in our communities.
“This large scale investment will enable councils to support approximately 1200 Active Travel schemes nationwide,” Emer Higgins explained. “I am particularly pleased to report that South Dublin County Council has been allocated €22 Million for local projects in Lucan, Clondalkin and Palmerstown. “Some of the projects in our area receiving funding include: walking route for Monastery road in Clondalkin, cycle repair stations and cycle parking throughout the county, a throughway in Esker, a movement study of Clondalkin, actives travel schemes from Corkagh Park to Grand Canal and from Tallaght to Clondalkin, cycle development schemes along the R136 in Lucan and Doddsborough Road as well as infrastructure around schools in Clondalkin and Palmerstown.”
“There is an assumption that Greenways, cycle-ways or walkways are primarily tourism amenities. While they do enhance our local tourism offerings in Dublin, first and foremost they are about local people and improving local life, connecting suburbs, local villages or townlands that often become disconnected from one another because of busy and dangerous roads. “I also welcome news that part of this funding will be allocated to the Safe Routes to School Programme. €20m was recently announced for Round 2 of the programme which will see over 37,000 students across Ireland benefit from safer infrastructure and encourage them to cycle, walk and wheel to school. In conjunction with Safe Routes to School, funding will also be committed to continuing the Cycle Right Training programme, which in 2022 saw over 30,000 students trained to cycle safety.
“Locally we’ve seen the benefits of these programmes as our children are enabled to make their way to school either on foot or by bicycle, nurturing what we hope will be lifelong healthy habits. “2023 is going to be an important year for active travel. With a growing number of active travel schemes moving from design into construction and delivery, we can encourage more people across the county to walk or cycle within and beyond their local community.”
