COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF LUCAN / PALMERSTOWN / NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

MOTION NO.14

MOTION: Councillor M. Johansson

That the Chief Executive liaise with the principal of St Bernadette's School in Quarryvale with a view to including the school in the Safe School Streets programme or alternatively to install minimum safety measures such as pencil bollards at the school. Co-sponsored by Cllr Alan Hayes, Cllr Derren óBrádaigh, Cllr Guss O'Connell and Cllr Shane Moyinhan

REPORT:

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme was developed in partnership by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Green-Schools, as a response to the need to support schools to increase walking and cycling to school. Details of the SRTS Programme can be found online at this website; Safe Routes to School - Green-Schools (greenschoolsireland.org)

The current SRTS Programme was launched in March 2021 and was open to all schools in Ireland to apply for active travel funding and delivery. Funding is provided annually by the NTA as part of the overall annual allocation to SDCC.

Nationally, the programme received expressions of interest from 932 schools, almost one in four schools in the state. 170 schools were notified in June 2021 that they are part of the first round of funding for SRTS.  A further 108 schools were notified in December 2022 that they were part of the second round of funding for SRTS. St Bernadette's School in Quarryvale made an application under the programme and were accepted however they were not selected under Rounds 1 or 2 but will be included in a subsequent round.

Due to resource and funding limitations, all schemes at schools cannot progress at the same pace through design, planning processes, procurement and delivery, subsequent schools will be engaged with on a rolling basis. SDCC will engage with the SRTS Team in An Taisce to establish when they can initiate contact with St Bernadette's School, so that the necessary reports and surveys can be conducted to enable funding to be sought from the NTA.

In the interim, a member of the SDCC Active Travel team will visit the location and assess if any low cost fast delivery measures can be taken early in 2024.