Eamon Ryan orders councils to spend unclaimed €129m fund for bike lanes and walkways

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has personally contacted the chief executives of all 31 local authorities in recent weeks and told them to identify a priority list of so-called ‘pathfinder projects’ — big-impact bike and walking schemes that could be delivered within two years. He wants responses by mid-September. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has given council bosses three weeks to come up with 'quick-win' bike and walking infrastructure after it emerged half of the money for such projects last year went unspent.

Mr Ryan has instructed local authorities to fast-track spending on the projects. There was €309m allocated for the schemes in 2021 but only just under €180m was claimed by councils.

The funding allocated to local authorities for active travel projects.

The Green Party leader has personally contacted the chief executives of all 31 local authorities in recent weeks and told them to identify a priority list of so-called ‘pathfinder projects’ — big-impact bike and walking schemes that could be delivered within two years. He wants responses by mid-September.

He also wants clarity on their failure to spend €129m in active transport funding allocated to them by his department.

“There has been a sea-change in this Government’s approach to transport funding, with it rebalanced two-to-one in favour of public transport and active travel over spending on new roads,” the minister’s spokesperson said.

“Some of the 2021 allocations went unspent but the figures are somewhat distorted by Covid-19 when there was a slow uptake of the funding in the early part of the year. But the spending picked up later in the year and the trend continued into 2022.

The minister has now asked councils for a list of priority travel projects, big-impact active travel projects, things that can be delivered in the next two to two-and-a-half years, ones that can deliver for people in communities across the country. He wants them to get on with the spending.” 

Mr Ryan's intervention comes after figures show that while €309m was allocated nationally to fund active travel projects last year, Ireland’s 31 local authorities claimed just under €180m.

• Dublin City Council got the highest allocation of just under €50m but claimed just over €26m.
• Donegal County Council was allocated just over €5.3m but claimed just under €2.3m.
• Cork City Council got an almost €30m allocation but claimed €19m, while Cork County Council claimed €11m of its €15.7m allocation.
• By contrast, Meath County Council claimed €11m of its €12.8m allocation, Wexford County Council claimed €3.04m of its €3.6m allocation, and Tipperary County Council claimed just over €5m despite being allocated €4.6m.

The chief executive of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty, welcomed the record level of funding and defended the council’s track record of delivery of walking and biking infrastructure.

She said it took time to scale-up certain departments to take full advantage of the increased funding, with challenges in the recruitment of staff and external consultants, and the engaging of qualified contractors in the context of soaring construction costs.

She also said councils must follow due process on the design, public consultation, and procurement before tenders can be sought.

There has been an enormous step-up in the scale and scope of active travel projects in the last three years.

Projects to be delivered this year include the  ambitious MacCurtain Street revamp in Cork

Five years ago, Cork City Council was managing about seven such schemes a year, with the largest single contract valued at around €1.5m.

Today, it has 70 schemes in the system at various stages of planning or construction, some with contract values of up to €10m, and with many more in the pipeline.

About 7.5kms are in, or about to go into construction, another 10kms are due to go to tender before the end of the year, and about 20kms should be ready to go to planning before the end of the year.

Former Green Party senator and Cork City councillor Dan Boyle said Cork City had done well but the ability to deliver was just not there in some local authorities.

“There are a variety of reasons for that but there is no doubt that some of that is for political reasons,” he said.

It’s a bit like the Traveller accommodation budget. I think some elected representatives are not encouraging of active travel infrastructure in certain areas.

“And where the will does exist to deliver this infrastructure, it’s not always matched by a local authority’s ability to deliver.

“But the message from the minister is clear, it’s time to get the finger out, there is a lot of potential there, we can spend the money that’s there.” 

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In Galway, where the city council spent just 47% of its allocation, Green Party senator Pauline O’Reilly said Covid posed many challenges to the roll-out of infrastructure.

“However, additional funding has also been provided for new roles, dedicated to local walking and cycling projects, and we need to start seeing faster progress,” she said, 

Investment in walking and cycling projects has jumped from €45m in 2019 to €373m nationally this year.

Projects to be delivered this year include the Clontarf to city centre route in Dublin, the ambitious MacCurtain Street revamp in Cork, O’Connell Street in Limerick, the Salmon Weir Bridge in Galway, as well as connection of the Waterford Greenway from Bilberry into the city centre.

An estimated 1,200 walking and cycling projects are due to be delivered by rural local authorities, including the Hanover pedestrian and cycle scheme in Carlow and the N63 pedestrian and cycle scheme in Longford.