THERE was disappointment for Sandyford last week after
the area missed out on a potentially major source of funding to enhance local
sustainable transport.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport,
Tourism & Sport, Alan Kelly, announced recently that three urban areas
would receive a total of
?¬23 million over the next five years to improve
transport under the Smarter Travel Programme.
Limerick will receive
?¬9 million, Dungarvan in Co
Waterford will receive
?¬7 million and Westport in Co Mayo will receive
?¬5
million.
Local authorities around the country submitted bids on
behalf of the towns within their
administrative areas that they thought could benefit from switching to more
sustainable forms of transport.
Minister Kelly (Lab), praised the successful
competition winners and said he was
highly impressed with the quality, ambition and innovation of the proposals put
forward.
However, Cllr Gerry Horkan (FF) criticised Minister
Kelly for failing to award one of the winning tranches of funding to Sandyford.
The Southside suburb was one of only two areas in
Dublin that made the shortlist of 11 bids in the competition.
Cllr Horkan said that because of the high proportion
of people who commute to Sandyford on a daily basis it was likely that an
investment in the area would provide a more substantial return.
He also believes the area would be more likely to
benefit from investment as it already has public transport infrastructure in
place such as the Luas.
“This Smarter Travel plan is all about getting people
out of their cars and on to buses and cycle ways,
? he said.
“Sandyford has a working population the size of
Limerick City. I would have thought that you would get a better return for your
money in a built up urban area where higher volumes of people could benefit
from the existing transport infrastructure than you would in a smaller area.
?
There was nobody at the Department of Transport
available for comment.