Everything will be done to remove scrambler bikes from the roads, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said in the wake of a crash in Finglas that killed a 16-year-old girl.
Grace Lynch died after being hit by a scrambler motorbike as she used a pedestrian crossing on Ratoath Road in Dublin 11 on Sunday afternoon.
Two teenagers on the bike, an adult male and a male juvenile, were treated for “non life-threatening” injuries after the incident on Sunday.
A man in his late teens was arrested on Sunday evening.
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He appeared before Blanchardstown District Court on Tuesday.
More than 1,000 people gathered on Monday evening to retrace a route walked by Grace on the day she died.
Grace’s mother, Siobhán Lynch, led the walk from Valley Park estate to Plunkett Green.
Ms Lynch pledged to “fight” to get scrambler bikes and e-scooters off the streets.
Speaking early on Tuesday to reporters in advance of a Cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach expressed his “deepest sympathies” to Grace’s family.
He said “an investigation is under way but no words will console the family in respect of their devastating loss”.
Mr Martin added: “I’ll be engaging with Ministers to make sure that anything and everything that has to be done will be done to remove these scramblers from our public roads.”
He said he was involved in getting legislation in relation to scramblers passed and it was his view that “all aspects of that legislation, and all regulations should be signed as quickly as possible and dealt with”.
He said legislation is there and a lot of vehicles have been taken off the road “but we have to continue to strengthen that and to make sure that all aspects of that legislation are not just implemented but are enforced as well by gardaí on the ground”.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said the whole country was moved by Siobhán Lynch’s comments and “our hearts go out to Grace’s family”.
He said, “We have laws in this country now in relation to scrambler bikes,” and 449 were seized last year.
“It is really important now that there is a focus on the full implementation of what is a very robust piece of legislation” and it needs to be “fully enforced”, Mr Harris said.
“Being quite frank they [scrambler bikes] are bringing intimidation and fear into communities as well so I welcome the significant increase in seizures but I do believe under the current legislation it is possible to do even more and I know this will be a priority for the Minister.”
Earlier, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Seán Canney told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that whatever measures are necessary to regulate the use of scramblers will be taken.
In the Dáil on Tuesday afternoon, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said “Grace Lynch was failed catastrophically”. She claimed Government failed to listen to communities and take them seriously about the scourge scrambler bikes have been for working-class communities.
“Neighbourhoods being terrorised by antisocial behaviour involving these bikes is nothing new, with gangs driving scramblers dangerously, harassing and intimidating people and delivering drugs, with countless accidents and a constant sense of menace.”
She said the Government’s 2023 legislation did not go far enough and “as we meet here today, this legislation has not been enacted fully”.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said “the misuse of scramblers, quad bikes and e-scooters is a nationwide problem, a scourge across so many communities”.
“We have seen a failure of enforcement, a failure of regulation, a failure of political will and a lack of urgency from Government in tackling this.”
She said the “catastrophic injuries caused to Ilabek Avetian by a scrambler bike in a Dublin park back in 2018 should have been the wake-up call”.
Ms Bacik added that “four years on, the specialist Garda drone unit set up to tackle scramblers is still not being used due to delays in establishing a clear legal framework”.
She called for “an immediate freeze on the use of all scrambler bikes until the necessary enforcement mechanisms – robust enforcement mechanisms – are put in place urgently”.
The Taoiseach said “the code of practice in respect of drones and their utilisation in detection and so on will be done now. Also, the commencement of the regulations on that last aspect of the 2023 Act, most of which has been commenced, will also happen.”
Mr Martin said he would convene an immediate meeting of the departments of Transport and Justice. He said the final regulations in the 2023 Act had to be dealt with. “They should have been. I am very clear about it,” he said.
