Damien Owens
Director General, Engineers Ireland
While high levels of car use are more understandable in rural environments, it is a cause for concern in urban areas, like Dublin, where 53% of trips are still taken by car.
The most recent National Household Transport Survey, conducted in 2022 by the National Transport Authority, found that 69% of trips taken nationally are by car, with walking the next most popular mode of transport, at 19%. Trips taken by bus account for 4% of trips, cycling 2%, and trips taken by train or Luas amount to just 1%.
Driving over cycling dominance
Heavy reliance on driving leads to significant congestion in urban areas and increases carbon emissions. Despite a substantial rail network and the potential for active travel, these options are not fully utilised, often due to perceived safety issues, lack of reliability or access.
This is perhaps most obviously apparent in the low uptake of cycling nationally. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in cycling, driven by environmental concerns, health benefits, and urban mobility. A recent survey of 1,000 Irish adults, conducted on behalf of Engineers Ireland, shows that a majority (64%) of the public surveyed never cycle, while statistics from the Central Statistics Office show that a majority of those who do are male and over 35 years old.
Ireland’s low uptake of cycling, even
in urban areas, contrasts poorly
with many other European states.
Perception of cycling as unsafe
The same Engineers Ireland survey found that 82% of rural respondents perceive cycling as unsafe or very unsafe, with only mild improvements of perception in urban areas, with 75% of those polled seeing it as somewhat or very unsafe.
This perception of cycling is one of the key challenges increasing its popularity as a mode of transport. Ireland’s low uptake of cycling, even in urban areas, contrasts poorly with many other European states, most particularly the Netherlands, where more than one-quarter of trips (28%) are completed by cycling, according to the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis.
Improved cycling infrastructure needed
While investment in cycle infrastructure has increased in recent years, a greater emphasis on the development of structurally separated cycle lanes, speed limit reductions across urban areas, and more widespread access to public bike schemes can help to improve Ireland’s uptake of this highly sustainable and healthy mode of transport.
