We must build Cork streets so children use them

Every family knows the joy and bizarrely terrifying concern of watching a child take their first unaccompanied steps down a street, hands swinging, confident eyes alight, with the freedom of a world just beyond the doorstep.

Yet in too many parts of Cork today, that instinctive freedom is a distant dream: crowded roads, speeding cars, and unsafe or even absent crossings define the public realm where our children should be growing up.

The 2025 Cork Metropolitan Area Walking and Cycling Index shines a light on what our communities already know: people in Cork want safer streets, quieter neighbourhoods, and the freedom to walk, wheel, and cycle as part of everyday life, especially for our youngest residents.

Across the city, residents overwhelmingly support measures that make neighbourhoods more child-friendly and less dominated by motorised traffic.

Some 83 % of residents back ‘low-traffic’ neighbourhoods, places where through-motor traffic is greatly reduced and children can play, cycle, and walk freely.

A further 88 % support reducing speeds and introducing protected cycle paths in school neighbourhoods, and 59% even support closing residential streets to cars at school pick-up and drop-off times to protect kids on their way to learn and play.

These are not fringe views. These are the opinions of ordinary Cork families, grandparents, and young professionals alike.

They reflect a desire for neighbourhoods that prioritise safety, health, and community cohesion over congestion and short-cuts for commuters racing to beat the rush hour.

They are a mandate for change. It won’t happen tomorrow morning but the conversation on details should happen now.

We know from this report that walking and wheeling is already on the rise; 66% of adult residents walk or wheel five or more days a week.

That’s why we’re focused on restoring and repairing footpaths to make sure they are used by all ages.

This isn’t nostalgia for a lost era; it’s a clear indication that residents want to be active, connected, engaged with their places.

For years, we in the Labour Party have campaigned for the fact that active travel would include footpath repairs. The most active of travel that we all can do is walking on our commute. Yet, without infrastructure that protects children, these gains are fragile.

Too many parents still feel they must drive their children to school because the routes are unsafe to pedestrians and cyclists. That means more congestion.

Creating truly child-centred neighbourhoods means more than painted lines and a few bollards. It means:

Lower speed limits near schools, parks, and residential streets to ensure vulnerable road users aren’t in constant danger.

Protected cycle lanes and walking routes that families can trust year-round, not half-baked proposals that disappear at busy junctions.

Neighbourhood designs that reduce through traffic, enhancing community life and giving children safe spaces to explore.

School-time street closures and safer crossing points, backed by local residents and aligned with the strong public support shown in the Index.

We have a choice. Cork can continue to prioritise the convenience of cars or we can choose a future where our children walk, wheel and cycle safely to school, to parks, to friends’ houses, confident that their community values their safety above all else.

Children aren’t statistics. They deserve a safe space as much as any motorist.

The Walking and Cycling Index makes it crystal clear: Cork’s future will be healthier, happier, and more equitable when our neighbourhoods are built around people, especially the youngest among us.

It’s time to match our policy with our values, to put children at the heart of neighbourhood design. Let’s build streets for kids.