Cycling and walking will replace cars as the main mode of transport in towns and cities across Ireland, the Minister for Transport, Climate, Environment & Communications Eamon Ryan has said.
Confirming that a ban on vehicle traffic through Dublin city would be in place by August, the Green Party leader said Irish society had now become much more open to installing infrastructure for cycling and walking.
He believed that shift now had significant momentum behind it, that would only grow, and said it would lead to a wane in the use of cars in towns and cities and as more people walked and cycled to their destinations.
Ryan made his comments as he teamed up with National Transport Authority (NTA) deputy chief executive, Hugh Creegan, in announcing €290 million in funding for local authorities for walking and cycling infrastructure this year. He added since 2020, an investment of €1 billion had seen 600km of cycling and walking infrastructure built.
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He said that size of spending "reaches a certain point where it changes things on the ground, it makes it safe to cycle". Ryan was speaking in Clontarf, north Dublin, where the Clontarf to city centre project - a major cycle lane - is nearing completion.
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He also made his remarks 24 hours ahead of the latest section of the Dodder Greenway, between Ballsbridge and Donnybrook in south Dublin, was due to officially open.
“When we make it safe to cycle, I am convinced that Dublin, just like Paris or London, is going to switch to cycling. Not just Dublin, but Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and every town around the country. We are very close to that point.
“We have designed it through good engineering, putting networks together that connect up. I think the people are with us. Councils are starting to come around to reallocating space and making it safe to walk and cycle. It’s currently not safe – talk to anyone who cycles.
"We have to make it safe, and as we do that we will see a change. We will see a tipping point where there is massive change in cycling and walking as a mainstream form of transport for our city.”
Ryan added the change was coming at a time of environmental peril, adding switching from cars to walking and cycling was an important part of the shift Irish society needed to make.
