Proposals to implement a total ban on the use of scramblers in public places have been agreed by Cabinet.
It comes after the Government promised renewed efforts to remove scramblers from the roads after the death of 16-year-old Grace Lynch in Finglas, Dublin, last month.
“The intention is to close any cases where scrambler use may previously have been legal outside of appropriate off-road settings, and to enhance powers of seizure to reduce the number of seized vehicles that end up back on the roads,” a statement from the Department of Transport said.
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said the proposals were agreed on Wednesday and it would be a matter of weeks until new legislation is in place.
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He also said there needed to be a “legal definition” of a scrambler.
“These new regulations will help to bring additional legal clarity to the existing position that scramblers are banned for use on the road in almost all cases. We owe it to Grace Lynch, her family and her friends to introduce regulations to further restrict the inappropriate use of scramblers in public places as a matter of urgency,” O’Brien said.
“We call on all scrambler users to obey the laws that are designed to ensure the safety of everyone. We ask family members to speak with those in their lives who may ride scramblers illegally. Using off-road scramblers on roads is already illegal, and Gardaí have the necessary enforcement powers to intervene based on existing legislation.”
On his way into Cabinet on Wednesday, Tánaiste Simon Harris said moves to ban scramblers in public places were needed as the vehicles are “being used to intimidate communities” and pose a significant danger in terms of road safety.
He said the main cause for child brain injuries in Ireland was e-scooter use, with Cabinet set to discuss further measures addressing underage use of these vehicles as well.
“We need to help the gardaí in terms of more powers in terms of enforcements around that as well,” he said.
He said his clear view was that scramblers seized by gardaí should not be returned afterwards. This can’t be a case of someone having a scrambler seized for a few hours and “going back and asking kindly can they have it back”, and that the machines should be destroyed.
He said it was fair to question why the introduction of new regulations had taken so long and that he did not have a satisfactory answer. He said it was unacceptable that provisions in 2023 laws to ban scramblers outright were not commenced.
Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney has acknowledged that the current legislation relating to scramblers allows owners to retrieve their vehicles after a court case.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast with Anton Savage, Canney said that the legislation was lax in relation to what happened with scramblers.
“People can apply to the courts to get them back after an incident and a court case is finished, they can apply and pay a fine and get them back.”
Canney said he did not know how many scramblers had been returned.
“All I know is that 400 scramblers were confiscated. And my belief is that we need to make sure that we have finality with this so that scramblers are taken off our roads.
“We need to do it as a matter of urgency. And we need to make it clear to people who are using them, people who were selling them, that they cannot be sold for use on public roads.
“The regulation is being prepared at the moment and that information is being worked on between the Department of Justice, the gardaí and my department to ensure that we have the regulation the way that we deal with the confiscation of them and we deal with what happens with them afterwards as well.”
Canney added that under the new legislation, rather than gardaí chasing scramblers in public areas where accidents could occur, they would instead follow them and then confiscate the scrambler at the place where it was being stored.
Grace Lynch died after being hit by a scrambler motorbike as she used a pedestrian crossing on Ratoath Road, Finglas, last month.
A man appeared in court last week charged in connection with the incident.
In the wake of the death, Taoiseach Micheál Martin signalled that the Government would seek to remove scrambler bikes from the roads.
