Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said Dublin will be similar to cities like Paris or London, where cycling becomes one of the most common ways to travel.
The Green Party leader pledged to make cycling feel safe for everyone, adding that every city and town across the country will see cycling and walking become the “mainstream form” of transport.
He made the comments as he and Minister of State Jack Chambers joined the National Transport Authority (NTA) deputy chief executive Hugh Creegan to announce €290 million in funding for local authorities to support the rollout of walking and cycling infrastructure in 2024.
A total of €1 billion of investment has seen more than 600km of cycling, walking and wheeling infrastructure built since 2020.
Speaking in Clontarf in north Dublin, at the site of the Clontarf to city centre project, Mr Ryan said that local council are “coming round” to the idea of allocating spaces for walking and cycling.
“The money we have been spending – that billion euro we spent in the last four years – it reaches a certain point where it changes things on the ground, it makes it safe to cycle,” the Green minister added.
“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.”
He said the world is at a tipping point when it comes to tackling climate change.
“I think what is about to happen is at tipping point. At the moment our planet is deeply in peril,” he said.
“The global average temperatures, the sea temperature and air temperature, has gone off the dial. Nothing like it has been seen before.
“It was the warmest January ever following the warmest year ever. We have to act on climate change because if you don’t, you can go over the tipping point where it turns into runaway climate change, you can’t stop it, and (it imperils) our very existence.
“I was at ESB earlier and launched a whole series of new power generations, clean batteries, which will help us switch the power system clean and I think we will see a tipping point in active travel.”
Mr Chambers said that hundreds of schools and thousands of young people are breaking the habit of using the car to travel.
“It really empowers schools and communities to shape local plan that works for them,” the junior minister added.
“We have seen many transformation across schools in the city and across the country where they can embrace active travel and build a more active society.”
