THE Active Travel department at Limerick City and County Council have spent over €4million on design consultancy fees since it was first established in 2021.
Sinn Féin councillor Sharon Benson asked the Council executive for a full yearly breakdown of expenditure on consultants by Active Travel since its foundation at the local authority’s monthly meeting.
Cllr Benson was told that the spend on design consultancy within the Active Travel department for all of Limerick in 2021 was €699,566, €722,052 in 2022, €1.4m in 2023, and €1.6m in 2024 — bringing the total spent in the past four years to €4.4m.
Sean McGlynn, Senior Engineer with Active Travel, told the April full meeting of Council members that the average percentage of design consultancy spending on Active Travel projects in Limerick typically falls within the range of five per cent to 10 per cent of the total project budget.
“These projects, which include infrastructure for cycling, walking, and other forms of sustainable transport, often require specialised expertise in urban planning, engineering, and environmental assessments,” he told the meeting.
Mr McGlynn went on to say that factors influencing consultancy costs on Active Travel projects include project complexity, geographic location, and the specific requirements of local authorities or government bodies.
“The overall non-payroll costs for the same period and same schemes amount to €63,495,994, so our consultancy fees account for 7.01 per cent of the non-payroll costs to date, which is below the expected outturn of 10 per cent not withstanding fees are still being incurred as schemes are progressing,” he concluded.
