Sean Canney, Galway East Independent TD, has stated that the Safe Routes to School Scheme is moving too slowly with only 12 schools across County Galway out of 65 registered for the scheme have to date been sanctioned for funding.
Even more worrying, he said, is the fact that not one school in the Tuam Municipal District has been funded.
The Safe Routes to School Scheme is administered by An Taisce and funded through the Active Travel Fund.
“I believe that the fund should be administrated by the local authorities who have the expert knowledge and experience in road safety,” he said.
“Key locations such as; Corrandrum National School; Castlehackett National School; Milltown National School; Sylane National School; Belmont National School; Ballinlass National School; Clydagh National School; Crumlin National School; and Kilcoona National School are all areas requiring safety works to make the schools safer in terms of accessibility, but none of which has received any fund despite being registered.
“I support Galway County Council’s request to have at least four of the above schools included in the round of schools to be funded. We cannot pretend that there is a scheme in place if schools are being excluded for no apparent reason,” he concluded.
