Rural Waterford is left short-changed

An allocation of €9.1 million was recently granted to Waterford to support Active Travel and Greenway projects.

The funding aims to improve walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure across the county.

However, concerns were raised last week over the limited share of funding allocated to the county’s rural Comeragh district

Speaking on the issue, Cllr Liam Brazil said that rural areas are being discriminated against.

“I’m always fighting for the rural person and I think the rural person is being discriminated by Active Travel" he said.

“The rural parts of the county get nothing and all the funding is going to urban areas."

Cllr Burke shared a similar sentiment, saying: “I really think we should be lobbying for Active Travel funding to come back to more rural areas in Comeragh.

“We’re a tourist destination, we’re a place where people live, walk, cycle, so there’s no reason why urban areas have eaten up all of the funding.” 

The recent allocation begs the question of who is responsible for Active Travel funding and why was the Comeragh district so short-changed.

Since 2020, over one billion euro has been allocated to projects across the country as part of the Active Travel scheme.

In Waterford, the scheme has led to the creation of new cycle paths, improved crossings for walking and cycling, safer school routes and Greenway expansions.

In this year’s allocation for Waterford, €4,060,000 was received for the upgrade of the Tramore Ring Road.

Other notable allocations include €500,000 towards the development of bus shelters throughout the county and €200,000 towards the North Quays project.

Speaking last week, Waterford Council’s Senior Executive Roads Engineer Maria Goff, said that the Council annually put forward proposals for certain areas of the city and county to receive Active Travel funding, but ultimately it is central government who allocate the funding.

She added that Comeragh areas such as Dunhill and Bonmahon were proposed by the Council for funding this year, but unfortunately neither received any.

Ms. Goff said that the priority is currently for funding to go towards larger urban areas such as Dungarvan, Tramore and the city itself.

Read the full list of this year's Active Travel projects HERE

(Funded by the Local Democracy Scheme)