Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the other things that is happening with this is that although the area engineer deals internally in the council, working with the councillors and other council staff, an active travel project can happen in their area and they will not have a clue what is going on because it is a completely separate channel. That needs to be dealt with at local authority level. The area engineer needs to be the person responsible for roadworks, including active travel in their area, or it could be someone working under them. They are actually separated. The Department insists on this clear separation along with having the design of footpaths done by external consultants, which costs a fortune. It is a total waste of money and time and I am told it has to go through six separate gates with a back and forward with the Department. Building a new school only has to go through four gates, but putting in a footpath has to go through six.