TY - JOUR
T1 - A critical analysis of walking policy in Ireland and its contribution to both national and international development goals
AU - Power, Dylan
AU - Lambe, Barry
AU - Murphy, Niamh
N1 - Funding Information:
Get Ireland Walking received funding from Sport Ireland and Healthy Ireland 2017. In 2018, annual funding for the initiative increased through the Dormant Account funds. The GIW SAP, at the time of publication, sat within the broader national PA policy context in Ireland. For example, Action 43 of the National Physical Activity Plan 2016–2020 () outlines Get Ireland Walking as a lead partner. Although Get Ireland Walking has both national and local remits, the GIW SAP was found to lack local level delivery mechanisms which feed into the implementation of the GIW SAP at national level. Given the lack of political leverage of Get Ireland Walking, there was little capacity to embed actions into interagency programmes of work to ensure accountability and transparency.
Publisher Copyright:
2023 Power, Lambe and Murphy.
© 2023 Power, Lambe and Murphy.
PY - 2023/3/1
Y1 - 2023/3/1
N2 - Introduction: Increasing population levels of walking holds benefits for public and planetary health. While individual level interventions to promote walking have been shown to be efficacious, upstream interventions such as policies harness the greatest potential for impact at the population level. However, little is known about the nature and presence of walking policy in Ireland and the extent to which it aligns to national and global goals. This paper aims to provide an overview of local and national walking policy in Ireland and to understand the potential of Irish walking policy to contribute to national and global targets.MethodsThis study used multiple methods to provide a critical overview of walking policy. Firstly, a six-phase process was employed to conduct a content analysis of local and national walking policy in Ireland. Secondly, conceptual linkage exercises were conducted to assess the contribution of walking, and national walking policy in Ireland, to Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.ResultsOverall, half (n = 13) of the counties in the Republic of Ireland were found to have no local level walking policies. Results from the content analysis suggest that counties which had walking specific local level policies (n = 2) were outdated by almost two decades. Walking was identified to hold the potential to contribute to over half (n = 6) of Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes, and over half (n = 7) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Ireland's only national level walking specific policy, the Get Ireland Walking Strategy and Action Plan 2017–2020, was identified to potentially contribute to four of Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes and three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.DiscussionMultidisciplinary action is required to update walking-related policy with embedded evaluation and governance mechanisms in all local walking systems. Furthermore, given sufficient collaboration across sectors, walking policy in Ireland has the potential to contribute to a wider breadth of national and global targets beyond the health, sport, tourism, and transport sectors.
AB - Introduction: Increasing population levels of walking holds benefits for public and planetary health. While individual level interventions to promote walking have been shown to be efficacious, upstream interventions such as policies harness the greatest potential for impact at the population level. However, little is known about the nature and presence of walking policy in Ireland and the extent to which it aligns to national and global goals. This paper aims to provide an overview of local and national walking policy in Ireland and to understand the potential of Irish walking policy to contribute to national and global targets.MethodsThis study used multiple methods to provide a critical overview of walking policy. Firstly, a six-phase process was employed to conduct a content analysis of local and national walking policy in Ireland. Secondly, conceptual linkage exercises were conducted to assess the contribution of walking, and national walking policy in Ireland, to Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.ResultsOverall, half (n = 13) of the counties in the Republic of Ireland were found to have no local level walking policies. Results from the content analysis suggest that counties which had walking specific local level policies (n = 2) were outdated by almost two decades. Walking was identified to hold the potential to contribute to over half (n = 6) of Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes, and over half (n = 7) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Ireland's only national level walking specific policy, the Get Ireland Walking Strategy and Action Plan 2017–2020, was identified to potentially contribute to four of Ireland's National Strategic Outcomes and three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.DiscussionMultidisciplinary action is required to update walking-related policy with embedded evaluation and governance mechanisms in all local walking systems. Furthermore, given sufficient collaboration across sectors, walking policy in Ireland has the potential to contribute to a wider breadth of national and global targets beyond the health, sport, tourism, and transport sectors.
KW - content analysis
KW - physical activity policy
KW - pragmatic
KW - sustainable development goals
KW - walking
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1125636
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150162651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fspor.2023.1125636
DO - 10.3389/fspor.2023.1125636
M3 - Article
C2 - 36935882
SN - 2624-9367
VL - 5
SP - 1125636
JO - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
M1 - 1125636
ER -
