Safety fears are holding parents back as just 5% of children cycle to school

Despite over two-thirds of parents preferring their children to cycle to school, just 5% currently do daily due to safety concerns and a lack of proper infrastructure

News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 12:54, 25 Aug 2026 View 2 Images Child cycling (stock image) (Image: Graham Twomey/ Ascent Xmedia GmbH/Getty Images)

With just 5% of Irish children cycling to school each day, improved cycling infrastructure has been identified as the single most effective intervention to increase uptake.

A new survey from RedClick, carried out by IrelandThinks, shows that nearly 80% of children never cycle to school, despite over two-thirds of parents saying it would be their preferred method. There has been a generation decline as 81% of parents believe their children cycle less than they did at the same age. While just 5% of children cycle to school daily, 8% to do so occasionally.

The key issue in Dublin city, according to Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu, is that parents often don’t feel like it’s safe enough for children to go to school alone on their bikes. The Pembroke representative said she does allow her eight year old to cycle to school, but she cycles on the footpath which can cause issues for pedestrians.

“But I’m not having her on the road where you have a three-ton truck very close by. The problem is a lack of cycling infrastructure,” she said.

Over half of the parents surveyed whose children cycle to school said it has made their child more independent in day-to-day life, helped them build confidence, develop decision-making skills, and become more self-reliant. But parents are saying it often isn’t feasible to allow children to cycle to school.

View 2 Images Former Lord Mayor Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu on a bicycle while launching the Cycle Buddy App

They cite the distance being too far (54%), heavy school bags (41%), unpredictable weather (39%), a lack of confidence in cycling ability (22%), as the major hurdles for parents letting children navigate busy roads. For parents of secondary school students distance remains the leading challenge (54%), as well as unsuitable school uniforms (49%) and concerns over the impact on personal appearance (42%).

Dublin City Council has major plans to increase their Active Travel Network and wish to expand the urban cycle network to over 1,485km in length. The goal is to have 95% of people in the city be within 400 metres of the network, with easy access to safe cycling and pedestrian routes.

Cllr Chu said the problem isn’t a lack of proposals, but funding issues and projects that have stalled for years . “There were big projects happening, but now every active travel meeting I’m at through Mobility SPC or the Area Committee, it’s all about projects that have stalled - not defunded - but there’s no money left,” she said.

She highlighted the Rathmines to Milltown cycle route that had been previously planned and is now stalled "indefinitely". “If you ask any parent that lives in Milltown they need that for their kids to go to school. If they’re stalled, then how does any kid stand a chance of cycling safely to school?” Cllr Chu asked.

While the majority of parents state that cycling would be their preferred transport method for their children, in actual practice the rollout of cycling infrastructure can see a lot of pushback from constituents. “You will have residents say ‘I don’t want a cycle lane here,’ you saw that with Sandymount and with Griffith Avenue before Covid ,” Cllr Chu said.

“We need to get people to think of alternative transport. They can’t be constantly stuck in cars. It’s not a war on cars or anything, but it’s that there are better ways to get from A to B if you allow us to put the infrastructure in.”

Another way of encouraging cycling for school goers is through the introduction of a ‘Bike to School’ scheme, similar to the ‘ Bike to Work ' scheme. 28% of parents surveyed supported this idea, but Cllr Chu stressed that this doesn't address the safety concerns.

“The most important thing to me as a parent is to have a safe infrastructure. Even if someone gives my kid a free bike and free helmet and the whole lot, if I know there's a risk of her being run over by a car because there aren't safe cycle lanes, then I'm not going to put her on a bike,” she said.

“I’m not going to take that risk. As an adult you choose that risk for yourself, you know I can manoeuvre and I’m hoping people will watch out for me and I’ll be cycling safely. With a kid, you choose that risk for them and, as an adult, you need to know, is this safe or not?

“There are plenty of roads I’ve seen that aren’t safe. That’s not me saying that kids shouldn’t be cycling. I really want all kids to cycle. I want us to have that ambition to put cycling lanes in that are safer for them.”

Speaking of the survey findings, RedClick’s Commercial Director, Lisa Silver commented that the figures show that families want to cycle to school, but “practical issues and lack of confidence remain significant barriers”.

"Parents and students want to cycle, but they feel ill-equipped to do so. If we want to reverse this generational decline, we must support cycling incentives for families,” she said.

“The results of this survey show that targeted bike purchase schemes, safety courses, and continued investment in cycling infrastructure could make a measurable impact in enabling children to cycle to school."

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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