O’Brien asks where has the 750k gone?

18th March, 2015

As Green Party representative for Dublin Fingal i question Fingal County Council’s commitment to the long overdue Skerries to Balbriggan cycleway and have asked the CEO of Fingal County Council what has happened to the initial allocation of €750,000.

It’s been five years since the money was allocated by the Department of Transport and bar some small sections between Balbriggan and Balrothery we have still to see any work being carried out of the ground for the Skerries-Balbriggan cycleway. At this stage I would have to question commitment levels to the project. I have written to the CEO to ask him

• What is the current status and funding situation of the project?

• Were all necessary Compulsory Purchase Orders obtained and progressed?

• What has happened to the €750,000 allocation from 2010?

• Has Fingal County Council applied (in 2014 or 2015) for funding from the National Transport Authority for the completion of this project?

In particular I would be concerned about the funding situation for the project and what has happened to the €750,000 that was previously allocated and how much has been spent on the Compulsory Purchase Orders. I think part of the reason that this project has been put on the long finger is the failure to see the huge community gains from connecting the towns of Skerries and Balbriggan not to mention that the huge asset of Ardgillan Demense would be opened up to so many more people by making it safer for families to walk or cycle there.

Joe O’Brien on Balbriggan Skerries road

The Skerries to Balbriggan cycleway is just one key leg in what should be cycleway that will run all the way from Balbriggan to Sutton and would take in Ardgillan, Skerries, Rush, Donabate, Newbridge House, Rogerstown and Broadmeadow estuaries and Malahide castle and Portmarnock on its way to Dublin. It would truly be the jewel in Fingal’s tourism crown but also an important commuter route. However, there does not appear to be the vision or determination to make it happen. I think if we can get the Skerries to Balbriggan link completed both the public and the Council will begin to see the huge returns that cycleways have been proven to bring to local communities and economies. We can not only rival but easily surpass the gains that the Western Greenway has brought to Mayo and its environs due in no small part to the huge concentration of tourists on our doorstep in Dublin.