Fresh doubt cast over Salthill Prom cycleway funding

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Fresh doubt has been cast on whether State funding is available to implement a proposal for a temporary cycle lane along the Promenade in Salthill.

Fianna Fáil has accused the Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, the Transport Minister, of distancing himself from a public commitment he made to fund the project.

A motion by Mayor of Galway, Colette Connolly (Ind), calling for a temporary two-way cycle lane along the Promenade, was passed without debate by 17 votes to one at the September meeting of Galway City Council.

In a video posted on social media, prior to the vote, Minister Ryan told Galway Green Senator Pauline O’Reilly at the party’s think-in, that he was committed to funding the cycle lane.

Fianna Fáil Galway West TD, Éamon Ó Cuív, subsequently asked Minister Ryan in a Parliamentary Question how he intended to provide the funding.

But, according to Councillor John Connolly (FF), the Minister passed the buck, and did not give a financial commitment to the project.

In his reply to the PQ, Minister Ryan said: “The National Transport Authority . . . is responsible for allocating the funding.”

Cllr Connolly – who voted in favour of the cycle lane – said it was clear from the response that Minister Ryan was “distancing himself from any direct funding remit for the project”.

Deputy Ó Cuív then questioned the NTA about its plans to fund the temporary cycle lane but Cllr Connolly said its response was “even more disappointing”.

The NTA, in its answer, made no reference to the temporary cycle lane which councillors approved. Its reply said that €80,000 had been allocated earlier this year to progress the Bearna Greenway but Cllr Connolly said that money predates the temporary cycle lane vote. It was a separate funding allocation, he added.

This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.