The €57m announcement for more than 130 active travel projects in Co Cork has been welcomed as “transformative”.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and the National Transport Authority have confirmed funds to be allocated to local authorities in 2023 for walking and cycling projects.

It includes €4.5m for the Grange Road to Tramore Valley Park N40 bridge, €3.4m for the Ballinacurra-to-Midleton pedestrian and cycle route, and €1.6m to upgrade the Marina promenade.

Fine Gael city councillor for Cork City South Central, Shane O’Callaghan, said that the €4.5m announced for the linking bridge to Tramore Valley Park is “fantastic news” that will build on the €5m already invested by the NTA in the project. He said that the project should be completed by the third quarter of this year.

“It should provide adults and children with a safe, picturesque, and convenient way of accessing Tramore Valley Park without having to travel there by car; enable walkers and cyclists to travel from the Grange Road to Half Moon Lane without having to go on a public road; and ease traffic congestion on the Grange Road by offering a safe and convenient way for people to cycle to the city centre,” he said.

Green Party city councillor for Cork City North East, Oliver Moran, highlighted that Cork City Council is “keeping ahead of the game” in receiving funding for projects. “Only Dublin City Council received more, with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown next after Cork. Between city and county, Cork received €57m in funding, which nearly equals Dublin City Council,” he said.

He said that while multi-million euro pathfinder projects are significant, all of the projects granted funding will make a big difference locally.c“For all of these projects across the city, it’s in everyone’s own local area that this investment will be felt by young and old,” he said.

Independent city councillor for Cork City South East, Kieran McCarthy paid tribute to the efforts of engineers in Cork City Council that keep coming forward with projects.

Speaking to the €1.6m to be invested in the Marina Promenade, he said funding would be transformative for the amenity.

“If you go down the Marina at this moment in time it’s full of concrete potholes. If you are disabled you will be able to go down it with ease, or if you were an older person and you were struggling across the concrete, it’s going to be easier,” he said.

Green Party county councillor for East Cork, Liam Quaide, said that the active travel allocations for Cork “are very significant and strongly reflect the influence of the Green Party in government”.

“This funding will go a considerable way towards making east Cork a national example of interconnected active travel connectivity,” he said.

However, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould said that the discrepancy in funding for the north and south sides of the city is unfair.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, he highlighted that only 22 of 92 projects in the city are on the northside, and the €6.2m allocated to the northside is less than half the €14.11m granted to the southside. “We know that the northside has been neglected for years, and that neglect continues today. I will be, once again, contacting the NTA and Cork City Council to raise these issues and to demand that action is taken because it is not good enough,” he said.