The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe has now presented Budget 2020. Prior to this, Cyclist.ie, the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network, sought 10% of the Land Transport capital investment to be allocated to cycling. This was in accordance with the Dáil vote last January, the report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change and the All of Government Climate Plan 2019. The reasons have been fully detailed in our Budget Submission 2020 and include climate change, congestion, health, pollution and sustainability.

Cyclist.ie notes that the government has allocated €1942 Million to the Land Transport capital budget and is perplexed that Minister Donohoe has announced only €9 Million for sustainable mobility. How much has been allocated to cycling? When will the government target on cycling be achieved? Either the government is unaware that there is a climate emergency or else they are releasing the good news in bite sizes.

Therefore, we await with interest from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport details of:

• The allocation for Improvements and Maintenance of Roads (ref B3)
• The Allocation for Public and Sustainable Transport (ref B8)
• Proposed grants for E-Bikes for reasons outlined in our pre-budget submission

As the saying goes: Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. We shall soon see where this government’s priorities are and if they are the same old, same old …