Bicycle Lanes ....A quick word

Got talking to a City Councilor tonight, while driving up the Ballyboden rd, I asked him W.T.F! cycle lanes were doing, painted either side of a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass by each other.
"Ah" he said "sure doesn't the EU pay a grant of 1000s of yoyos per KM of cycle lane, and all 'tis is a bit of paint"
"Well holy gad! makes perfect sense now " says I