Opinion piece from Dr Sean Owens.
There are many overlapping interests in seeing Active Travel grow in Ireland, be it health, sustainable transport, connection to nature, tourism, local economic gains and much more. As GPs working in the Co. Louth community, we can’t stress enough the urgent need to address health inequalities and the ever-increasing burden of chronic disease. The time to act is now. Improving health and wellbeing, alongside disease prevention, are the pillars of quality healthcare. Supporting healthy behaviours from childhood through to healthy ageing is a key pillar of the HSE Healthy Ireland Plan for 2023-27. Beyond the well-documented health benefits of increasing physical activity, moving towards a healthier population is the most effective method of reducing the pressure on finite healthcare resources.
Concurrently, the greatest threat to healthcare in this century is now well established to be the climate and nature crisis (Lancet 2023). Disease prevention and lifestyle optimisation are the greenest and most cost-effective avenues to decarbonise and protect our healthcare system and meet the demands of an ageing population. The Carlingford to Dundalk Greenway is not just a path; it’s a crucial tool in our fight against chronic diseases.
The national prevalence of diabetes, conservatively estimated at 6.5%, is projected to double by 2050 and already accounts for 10% of the total health spending. Healthy Ireland’s national obesity action plan estimates that six in ten adults and one in four children are living with overweight or obesity. We urgently need to address this tsunami of chronic disease upstream, long before the hospital bed or pharmacy.
An unfair onus to improve lifestyles has been aimed at individual action. There is now growing recognition that policy levers must be utilised to design a living environment conducive to good health, including access to safe and well-designed active travel infrastructure. This is where the Carlingford Greenway comes into effect.
There is an abundance of evidence that exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (heart disease, stroke), type 2 diabetes, many cancers, dementia and more. Exercise has been shown to help prevent and treat mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Exercise is essential for building and maintaining muscle and healthy bones and joints. Even moderate resistance and cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with maintaining independent living and good physical health in later years. Exercise also improves and fosters social interactions, community resilience and quality of life. One commonality of the “Blue Zones”, the longest-living and healthiest living populations around the world, is that they engage in physical activity as part of their daily routine.
HSE guidelines suggest children and teenagers should be active, at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day, and adults 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, such as walking or cycling, five days a week. This guidance may sound onerous or unlikely given our shared busy lifestyles until you simply reimagine the commute to work, school, errands, and more to involve Active Transport. Suddenly, these crucial health goals can be easily obtained every day.
Beyond all of the technical details to be discussed in further stages of this consultation and planning process, this Greenway should be seen as more than just a local project. It’s vital health infrastructure for our community. As such, it needs to be safe (traffic segregated), user friendly (multiple entry and exit points), of a high surface standard, and part of a greater national cycling network that allows further growth for active transport in Ireland.
