DCC to hire 55 new staff for cycling and walking projects

Dublin City Council has announced it plans to hire 55 new staff to advance cycling and walking projects in the city.

The new roles are funded for the coming five years under a new national funding scheme for sustainable mobility, announced by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD at the end of January.

Engineers, programme directors, communications staff and technical advisors will all be hired.

The new staff will work to advance more projects simultaneously and will be able to access national walking and cycling funding, which now stands at over €360m a year.

Green Party councillors said the new posts could be “transformative” for active travel in the city.

Green Party councillor and group leader, Michael Pidgeon said: “Ten years ago I stood outside civic offices, campaigning for the council to hire just one cycling officer.

“A decade on and we’re looking at hiring over fifty staff for active travel.

“There is now a huge amount of cycling and walking funding available – we just need the staff locally to design and spend it. This could be transformative for the city.”

Councillor and Dublin Bicycle Mayor Donna Cooney said: “Cycling infrastructure is the biggest want and need by citizens of Dublin in requests received from the public to the COVID mobility team. Really excellent projects have been delayed in the city due to lack of staff.

“We requested this from Minister Eamon Ryan in September 2020 so we can use our share of one million euro a day to truly reset Dublin as a cycling capital after COVID.”