Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 31 May 2001

Vol. 537 No. 4

Written Answers. - Cycle Facilities.

David Stanton

Question:

123 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on the need for more cycle lanes; the funding which is in place to assist local authorities to construct cycle lanes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16481/01]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey)

In order to encourage the provision of cycle lanes, my Department, in association with the Dublin Transportation Office, DTO, has published a design manual for cycle facilities entitled, Provision of Cycle Facilities: National Manual for Urban Areas, 1998, which has been circulated to local authorities. The manual was prepared with the assistance of international consultants and reflects good international practice in relation to the provision of quality cycle facilities.

The provision of cycle facilities on non-national roads may be funded from local authorities' own resources or from the discretionary Improvement grant made available by my Department. The discretionary improvement grant allocated in 2001 is £15.111 million which is a 35% increase on the 2000 allocation of £11.192 million and a 48.4% increase on the 1997 provision of £10.18 million.

Within the greater Dublin area, grants are paid to local authorities by the DTO for specific traffic management projects. An amount of £26.35 million is available to the DTO in 2001 for such projects of which £3.8 million has been allocated for cycle facilities.