WHEN FIOLA FOLEY was on maternity leave earlier this year she would regularly take her child out for a walk in the pram.

Foley lives in Dunmaniheen, Co Kerry, about a kilometre outside of Killorglin. But to walk to Killorglin – a busy tourist town on the Ring of Kerry – she has to use about 250 metres of road with no proper footpath.

In April, Foley shared a video on Twitter depicting what she had to deal with daily. In the video, two large articulated trucks speed by Foley and her sleeping child, followed by a number of other vehicles. 

She walks along a narrow hard shoulder with bushes growing over a wall onto the roadway. There is a broken white line in the centre of the road, meaning vehicles can legally overtake. The speed limit is 80 km/h.

“We basically can’t walk safely into town,” Foley tells The Journal.

“In our case, we have to walk this 250 metre stretch to get to the footpath and it is treacherous.”

The road in question is the N72. When Foley brought the issue to the attention of Kerry County Council, she was told that the road is due a significant upgrade, which will solve the issue.

A spokesperson for the council told us that the road is scheduled for “a very substantial multi-million euro upgrade and realignment and has recently gone through public consultation”.

But Foley says this upgrade will take years to complete, and in the meantime the road will remain unsafe for anyone who wants to walk the short stretch into town.

“I still have this dream of being able to walk [my daughter] to school or cycle, but I won’t do that as long as there is no footpath. 

“We’ll be driving the 2km to school, getting stuck in traffic with all the others on the way.”

Footpaths and inadequate access

A lack of proper pedestrian infrastructure is often cited as a barrier, preventing people from taking active travel journeys (walking or cycling) in towns and cities and rural areas across Ireland. 

The specific issues differ from location to location. But in general, local councillors, residents and campaigners highlight a lack of footpaths and pedestrian walkways in areas, footpaths that are in need of repair, or frequent obstructions that prohibit safe and enjoyable walking.

According to the CSO’s 2019 National Travel Survey, over one fifth of people over the age of 18 in Ireland said they never take a journey by foot. Over one third of people said they would walk more in the future if there was a safer walking environment, while 20% said they would walk more if there was better infrastructure (like improved footpaths).

Earlier CSO figures show that half of all trips in Ireland under 2km in distance are driven, while two thirds of all trips between 2km and 4km are driven. 

Speaking in 2019 to the Oireachtas Climate Action Committee, Dr Rachel Aldred, Professor of Transport at the University of Westminster, stated that there is a pressing need for a change in how people travel in order for Ireland to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“There is a need for change. When we think about emissions reductions, technological change alone will not be enough to meet policy goals over the short timeframes necessary,” Aldred said.

We need that technological change but we also need substantial behaviour change, that is, cleaner vehicles but also fewer vehicles.

Bad state of repair

While badly maintained footpaths affect everyone negatively, they have a disproportionate impact on older people, disabled people, and people wheeling children in prams.

A 2015 report by Age Friendly Ireland and the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority examined walkability in eight Irish towns. The report found that 80% of people said there were footpaths available. However, over 70% of people said footpaths were in a bad state of repair.

Some of the main issues listed were that footpaths were too narrow, were not ramped or easy to negotiate for older or disabled people, and that they were often blocked by illegal parking. 

Nicola McDonnell, from Drogehda, Co Louth, has been a wheelchair user since 2010 after she suffered a bad accident. She frequently highlights issues with the town’s footpaths. 

McDonnell works with the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) as a team leader and advocates on behalf of disabled people. In 2013, she and others set up an access group to push for improvements to footpaths and disability access in the town.

“Some of the footpaths are lethal in Drogheda,” McDonnell tells the The Journal.

“You’d have footpaths that are cracked and are just so dangerous, and others that are uneven. And others for people with visual impairment that wouldn’t be up to standard.”

McDonnell says that she is not able to reach her local shop as the footpath isn’t adequate. However Louth County Council has recently begun works to improve the footpath in question.

Finally, as well as walkways being in disrepair, she says that people illegally parking on footpaths and blocking the way is a huge issue in the town.

“People just parking where they want to and blocking where they want to. That’s a big thing in Drogheda, even outside my own workplace, and especially in the evening time,” she says.

In general, McDonnell says that things are “improving a bit” in the town, and that campaigners have a great relationship with Louth County Council, who she says listens to their concerns. 

Recently the access group gave a list of 20 locations in Drogheda to the council that needed to be dealt with. However, there are still many issues to be addressed, she says.

There is still a lot that needs to be done and I don’t know that we will ever get there.

Cities 

Many of the problems in Drogheda are present in bigger towns and cities in the country. Parking on footpaths, obstructions and inadequate space for pedestrians are issues frequently raised in Dublin.

Lauren Tuite lives in Inchicore and is a founder of the social enterprise D8 Development. She is completing a Masters in Sustainable Transport & Mobility at TU Dublin, and advocates for improved walkways for pedestrians. 

D8 Development turns vacant properties in the city into spaces where people can live and work. Through her work with D8, Tuite sees the negative impact an overemphasis on vehicle traffic can have.

“We really see the impact that prioritising traffic has for the livability and viability of places like inchicore, where the vast majority of road space has been given over to traffic, people passing through,” says Tuite.

“There is a large community here that needs to be prioritised. We’ve been funnelling cars as quickly as possible through what was a village to get to the city centre and that has an impact on opening businesses in Inchicore and living in inchicore.

“It really undermines your quality of life and your ability to walk among your community and raise your children here.”

Tuite is a mother to a three-year-old, which opened her eyes to how difficult it can be for people to navigate uneven and blocked pavements in the city.

I consider it a social justice issue. I feel like everyone in Ireland should be able to go for a walk – and the experience should be enjoyable.

Prioritising pedestrians over cars, properly enforcing illegal parking, more ‘Stop’ signs being erected at junctions, and ensuring footpaths are big enough for couples and families to walk safely side by side, are some of the solutions she puts forward for improving walkability.

“It’s all about making the car the least attractive option, and making walking the most attractive option,” she says.

Tuite says this will improve public health, as more people become more active, reduce emissions, as fewer people travel by car, and ensure areas like Inchicore become better places to live.

What’s being done

The 2020 Programme for Government commits 10% of the total capital budget for travel towards pedestrian infrastructure. Budget 2021 committed €360 million per year of the capital budget to go towards cycling and walking projects.

So far this year, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has announced €310 million in funding for sustainable transport projects in cities, towns and villages across the country, including major walkway improvements. 

But for campaigners across the country, there still remains much to be done to improve footpaths and accessibility for pedestrians.

For Fiola Foley outside Killorglin, it will likely be years before the road into the town is improved and a proper footpath is added. In the meantime, she has asked the council to clean the area around the hard shoulder, paint a continuous white line on the road to prevent overtaking, and to ensure speed limits are properly monitored.

“There are up to 600 residents in the nearby area and there’s no way for us to leave our houses on foot without taking a huge risk, mixing with traffic, articulated lorries and risking our lives,” she says.

A spokesperson for the council told The Journal:

“The Council continues to liaise with the residents in relation to any issues of concern but all of these issues will be addressed within the wider enhancement project.”

This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.